Let the Dead Lie By Malla Nunn

Award-winning screenwriter Malla Nunn brings back Detective Emmanuel Cooper in a stunning novel about murder, power and a dangerous South African underworld.

Emmanuel Cooper's life has an "ex" through it:  ex-soldier, ex-detective sergeant and ex-white man.  He now works undercover surveillance on the seedy Durban docks to make a living.  All that changes when the brutal murder of a young boy forces Cooper out of the shadows.  He must elude the police to conduct his own unofficial investigation.  After two more similar murders, Cooper becomes the police department's prime suspect.  He dives into the Durban underworld for answers and find that the killings are part of an international tussle for the political soul of South Africa.  Under the pressure of new racial segregation laws, Cooper must find the killer before the Durban police pin the crimes on him.

~My thoughts~
Once again, a sequel falls into my hands for which I haven't read the first installment.  This book can stand alone, but I would be willing to bet money that I would have understood the main character a little more if I read the first book.  I don't understand political intrigue very well, so this book lost me in places but I held on to the end because I wanted to find out who the killer was.  There are questions and topics for discussion in the back of the book if you have a book club and there is an interesting conversation with the author after that.

Sequela By MP Kollman

Jerome Grayson is dead; Wade Addams arrested; Jane Doe identified; Jackson Nolan committed suicide, evidently to avoid the humiliation of a trial.  The entire case has been neatly wrapped up.  Sandy Grayson's greatest regret is his brother's death.  But the case which brought the drug enforcement agent back to Jaspar also brough Samantha Greene into his life and brought him back into the house from which he had been banished years ago...a place he felt certain he would never be welcome again, especially since he had been the instrument of Jerome's death.  Destiny brought them together...Will She rip them apart too soon?  His father's suicide, Jerome's death and the similarities to his brother's suicide 12 years ago, drive a young man to wage war against the residents of Jaspar.

~My thoughts~
I liked this book.  I realized, only after I had started reading it, that it is a sequel...Wonder why the title didn't give me a clue?  Guess my blonde roots are showing... Anyhoo, the book did stand alone well, but I would like to read the first book to get acclimated with the characters.  And, yes, it appears that there will be a third in the series, so I look forward to reading that one also.  I found a clip on YouTube that I am going to share with you. The book is available in paperbook and ebook form.  It is fiction/action & adventure.

About the Author....MP Kollman is a student of the human condition, wielding the written craft to enrapture the mind much like an artist wields a brush.  The pages are a blank canvas on which to draw from a talent heralded by many and matched only by an imagination that rises to the task.  Sequela is the second in a series of recent pursuits, with work progressing on the follow-up.

http://youtu.be/48wd6pKKKac