Nairobi Heat (Melville International Crime)

A cop from Wisconsin pursues a killer through the terrifying slums of Nairobi and the memories of genocide

IN MADISON, WISCONSIN, it s a big deal when African peace activist Joshua Hakizimana who saved hundreds of people from the Rwandan genocide accepts a position at the university to teach about genocide and testimony. Then a young woman is found murdered on his doorstep.

Local police Detective Ishmael an African-American in an extremely white town suspects the crime is racially motivated; the Ku Klux Klan still holds rallies there, after all. But then he gets a mysterious phone call: If you want the truth, you must go to its source. The truth is in the past. Come to Nairobi.

It s the beginning of a journey that will take him to a place still vibrating from the genocide that happened around its borders, where violence is a part of everyday life, where big-oil money rules and where the local cops shoot first and ask questions later a place, in short, where knowing the truth about history can get you killed.