The Honey Guide by Richard Crompton

Set against the backdrop of Kenya’s December 2007 turbulent and corrupt election for a new president,  The Honey Guide by Richard Crompton brings Nairobi and its tribal tensions to life.

The Honey Guide introduces Mollel, a former Maasai warrior, who was once a homicide detective but was moved to traffic after a nervous breakdown that he suffered after his wife’s death  during the bombing of the US Embassy several years before. Mollel was hailed a hero for bringing out body after body from the rubbles while looking for his wife whose bodfy was never found.

The Honey Guide begins with the discovery of the body of a young prostitute in a storm drain. She has badly mutilated in her genital area. In the very corrupt world dominated by the Kenyan elite and their police underlings, the murder looks set to be relegated to piles of closed cases until the investigation is assigned to Mollel.

Mollel and his young Kikuyu assistant Kiunga navigate their way through a mega church headed by a charismatic leader George Nalo and his wife Wanjiku and red tape placed by their superiors. The city is poised on the brink, with tensions between the the ethnic groups running very high and where the elite has vast power over the poor minority. It requires only a spark for the whole city to ignite. As the investigation progresses, there are many twists and turns.  Mollel and Kiunga are assisted in the investigation by a young Maasai prostitute named Honey.

Soon  riots sweep through the city following claims of vote rigging and corruption. Mollel suspects there is more to the case than a murder of a prostitute. But are his warrior’s instincts-which have never failed him-as true as they feel? And will Mollel find justice for the poor victim?

This is an outstanding debut and it is my first taste of a thriller set in Kenya. Bravo!