Book overview
An investigation across Accra
Emma Djan had expected to build a career in the police service, following a professional path that mattered deeply to her. After that plan is abruptly disrupted, she accepts an opportunity with a private detective agency handling missing people and other sensitive cases.
Elsewhere, Gordon Tilson, a widower living in Washington, D.C., forms an online connection with a woman in Ghana. His son Derek becomes concerned when Gordon sends money and then travels to meet her without warning. After Gordon disappears, Derek goes to Ghana in search of answers.
Emma's first missing-person assignment draws her into this search. As the case develops, the novel examines online fraud, grief, trust, institutional pressure, and the social realities surrounding both those who deceive and those who are deceived. Accra's neighborhoods, food, language, and civic life shape the investigation throughout.
About the author
Kwei Quartey is a Ghanaian American crime-fiction writer and retired physician. His mystery novels are set in Ghana and include the Darko Dawson investigations and the Emma Djan series. His work is known for combining procedural storytelling with a detailed sense of place.
Critical context
Contemporary reviews consistently noted the book's Ghanaian setting, complex investigative plot, and introduction of Emma Djan as a determined new series protagonist. Review coverage also emphasized its examination of digital fraud, political influence, and the motives of people on both sides of a deception.