Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Carrion Death | 2008 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 2 | A Deadly Trade | 2009 | Michael Stanley | N/A |
| 3 | A Deadly Trade / The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu | 2009 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 4 | The Death of the Mantis | 2011 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 5 | Deadly Harvest | 2013 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 6 | A Death in the Family | 2015 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 7 | Dying to Live | 2017 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 8 | Facets of Death | 2020 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
| 9 | A Deadly Covenant | 2022 | Michael Stanley | Buy |
The Detective Kubu series follows Assistant Superintendent David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department through nine novels of murder, corruption, and political intrigue. Written by Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip under the joint pen name Michael Stanley, the series launched with A Carrion Death in 2008 and continued through A Deadly Covenant in 2022.
Kubu (the name means “hippopotamus” in Setswana) is a large, patient man who loves opera and good wine. His cases take him across Botswana, from the streets of Gaborone to the diamond fields and the Kalahari. The murders he investigates often touch on real issues facing the country, including wildlife poaching, political corruption, and tensions between tradition and modernity. The New York Times said readers “may be lured to Africa by the landscape, but it takes a great character like Kubu to win our loyalty.”
The series has drawn comparisons to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books for its Botswana setting, though the Kubu novels are darker and more firmly in the crime fiction tradition. Entertainment Weekly nicknamed Kubu “The African Columbo.” The nine books reward reading in order, as Kubu’s personal life develops alongside his cases.