Kwei Quartey’s The Whitewashed Tombs is a riveting mystery set against the vibrant yet shadowy backdrop of Accra, Ghana. Quartey masterfully intertwines culture, corruption, and compassion in this gripping tale. With his signature sharp prose and complex characters, he unravels a narrative that’s as thought-provoking as it is suspenseful. Perfect for fans of rich settings and morally tangled investigations, this book is another standout from a powerhouse storyteller.

"The Whitewashed Tombs" is, at a minimum, valuable for its premise, which draws on the real, and horrifically successful, efforts of US Evangelicals to import their queerphobia to Africa, or to intensify whatever preexisting queerphobia there may be. (The Nation has a useful article on the subject.) With "family values" in mind, just such an organization is visiting itself on the Ghana of investigator Emma Djan, and unsurprisingly this gives Emma some murders to investigate.

Unfortunately, "The Whitewashed Tombs" fell flat. I was eager to listen to it, because Adjoa Andoh, the narrator, is familiar to me from her brilliant work on Ann Leckie's books, as well as from an absolute knockout performance of "Pride and Prejudice." To my dismay, it turns out that even as terrific an actor and narrator as Andoh is, like apparently every other Briton, defeated by American accents -- the Southern/cornpone style she gives the Evangelicals is painfully OTT. And there's a lot of it to listen to, cringing the whole time.

So that was strike one. Strike two was Emma's investigation. She and her partner give false names at one point because they're "undercover" for reasons that eluded me. Later, Emma infiltrates the Evangelical organization, but she commences her infiltration before doing any research on the group, which struck me as incompetent to say the least.

Strike three was Emma's relationship with her boyfriend, Courage, specifically the scene when he confesses, during their reunion after a very long work-related separation, that he's been "unfaithful" -- to wit, he got in a car with a sex worker and let her take out his dick, then called a halt to proceedings. I'm sure my standards aren't a (typical?) Ghanaian woman's standards, but honestly, Emma, your historically loving BF stopped before much of anything happened, he's confessed to you, and he's practically on his knees apologizing. I get being peeved and hurt, but booting him and refusing to even talk to him? Holy overreaction, Batman.

Anyhow, I kind of lost interest in Emma at that point.

I did find value here -- in the premise, as I said, and also in the vivid and lively depiction of Accra. I'd say this is worth a listen, if you have more patience for relationship dramatics than I do, and you're not too picky about how a fictional investigator works. Thanks to RBMedia/Recorded Books and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

This was a DNF for me. I just couldn’t get through it. Maybe it was the nature of LGBTQ+ rights in Ghana that bothered me so much from the get go. Then all the violence. I know this stuff happens around the world but I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read all of the book at this time. The narrator was pretty good though.

Thanks to NetGalley for audiobook ARC in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a decent mystery that follows a private investigator and her team as they try to solve the brutal murders of several queer people in Ghana. Pros: it was a really interesting setting. I haven't read enough books set in modern Africa, and this was a good book. It was also interesting how unreliable the police are in Ghana, and that's why a team of private investigators would need to investigate a murder. Accra was depicted well, as far as I can tell, and it was a vibrant setting. It's a well-written mystery that balanced clues and mystery well. Cons: the writing could be a little clunky. I think that Quartey did his best tackling such homophobia, but it read as trying really hard in a way that made it awkward sometimes. As a whole, I did enjoy it. The narrator also had a fantastic voice.

The Whitewashed Tombs by Kwei Quartey; Narrated by Adjoa Andoh

The Whitewashed Tombs is the 4th in the Emma Djan series. I’ve read and enjoyed the previous three and when I saw the audio version for this book, I decided to listen to it. If Anjoa Andoh continues to narrate Quartey’s books, I’ll keep on listening.

Andoh has a wonderful ability to change the voice for each of the characters – male and female. Listening to the audio feels like I am watching the movie in my mind. The pacing is perfect and her ability to tell a story creates the atmosphere; the sense of tension, anticipation, danger, etc. can be felt in her expressive narration.

I’ve enjoyed this series because I learn about Ghana, it’s people, culture, traditions and political climate. This installment concerns Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws, along w/a newly proposed law that will make their lives even more dangerous. The story begins when the first victim, Marcelo, a gay man, fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, confronts the minister of the International Conference for Families (who is promoting marriage between a man and a woman – anything else is sinful and destroys the institution of marriage). Marcelo is escorted out of the audience and a few days later, found murdered. His father hires the Sowah Private Investigators Agency to investigate to find who was responsible for his son’s death.

While Emma works on the case, more murders occur in the LGBTQ+ community. We see the effects of the new and proposed laws - laws that include criminalizing advocacy, outing “suspected” LGBTQ+ people, conversion therapy, etc. A mix of actions and talk by the ICF religious leaders and members along w/local political leaders lead to violence against the LGBTQ+ community (along w/a feeling that it is deserved), all which seems to allow the police to turn a blind’s eye.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kwei Quartey, Adjoa Andoh and RBmedia
for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

This was a quick and easy read. I enjoyed the characters portrayed here as they felt real in the context of the work. Quartey does not hold back as he explores the deeply intolerant stance that exists surrounding the LGBTQIA community, yet among our detectives, there are moments of levity and relatability as they move towards solving a rash of violent murders.

I really enjoyed this novel, I have not read a book by this Author before but I enjoyed their storytelling, and the message behind this book.

This book is about LGBTQ+ people, specifically Trans Women in Ghana. Someone is violently murdering them, bodies callously left behind, seemingly due to the large amounts of homophobia in the church and other religious leaders in the community, no LGBTQ+ person is safe, and no one is investigating their death’s.

We meet Emma Djan, a Private Investigator who has a personal connection with one of the murdered victims, and she will do whatever she can to get justice, even if it comes at a cost to her safety. Danger is around every corner and you never know who you can trust.

I think the message behind this novel is so important and not discussed enough, LGBTQ+ people are not guaranteed safety, especially in countries where it is often criminalized or met with violence. This book was set in a time that is almost 30 years ago, and unfortunately not much has changed, LGBTQ+ and Trans lives are in Danger everyday, there was even a case recently in Georgia, where a Trans woman lost her life after she went public with her relationship, and was later murdered by her Partner for outing him. There are so many themes of that in this story so it really hit home for me. 4 ‘s

Thank you to the Author Kwai Quartey for writing this book, and for giving us a small look at what Trans people go through daily, all over the world. Thank you as well to the Narrator Adjoa Andoh for your incredible narration, everything down to the accents was great.

Big Thank you as well to RBmedia and NetGalley for my no cost Audiobook copy of “The Whitewashed Tombs”

I received this advance review copy at no personal cost and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

As with all of Quartey's books, this one was very well-written and covered important issues facing Ghana and the rest of the world. The narrator is excellent, although better with Ghanaian voices than American accents. That said, it was difficult to get through because of the hatred of gays portrayed and the actions taken against them.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Overall, I enjoyed the main character and the pacing of the story and very much enjoyed the audiobook narration and production. I struggle with the need for accurate representation versus engaging in gratuitous violence and I feel like this missed the mark for me. Because there is a bill in real life and this is the struggle LGBTQ people in Ghana face, but the violent murder of every activist in these stories was hard for me to listen to. I also feel that the ending was rushed and did not really wrap up any plot line besides who committed the murders (what happens with the bill, does anyone get justice). This is just a me thing but I was also unhappy the main character took back a cheater after she was such a strong and formidable character in the book.

Thank you to RBmedia and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this audiobook production in exchange for an honest review

This was a deeply disturbing story about rising homophobia in Ghana. When an LGBTQ+ activist, Marcelo Tetteh, is brutally murdered, his father contracts Sowah Private Investigators Agency to identify the perpetrators. Emma Djan is assigned to the case, and though she's looking forward to working it with her usual partner, Jojo, he cites a conflict of interest to Yemo Sowah, the agency boss, as he dated the dead man in the past.

Another gay man, who knew Marcelo, is found dead, and Sowah and company think there are likely connections between the deaths. Emma follows multiple lines of inquiry, and goes undercover with the International Congress of Families, a repellent and powerful Christian organization that has successfully convinced governments in other African countries to criminalize non-heterosexual lifestyles.

The representatives for ICF in Ghana are three Americans, married couple Christopher and Diana Cortland, and Gertrude Cortland, Christopher's sister. They have been working hard to convince politicians and religious leaders to back a hate-based, repressive law, and have used a variety of means, open, underhanded and criminal, to target all opponents.

Emma makes friends with a transwoman, who is also a very popular singer/celebrity, during her investigation, and through her meets one of the religious leaders in ICF's pocket.

People are butchered in this brutal case, and I had to keep putting this down as I found the hatred expressed and enacted by so many characters really difficult to handle. At the same time, the mystery story is compelling, and Emma proves herself to be, while sometimes reckless, an investigator with good instincts. I first met Emma in book one of this series, and liked her a lot, and thought she had much potential as a character. I must get back to this series and read books two and three.

I listened to this book and the wonderful Adjoa Andoh does her usual, fantastic job bringing the text to life. Much as I found some scenes difficult, Andoh's narration kept bringing me back.

Thank you to Netgalley and to RBmedia for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I love this series and this book was no exception. Emma is a fascinating and enlightening character, and since I know nothing about Ghana, she is the woman I imagine when I think about the area. She's clever and bold, relatable and admirable, and I cannot get enough. Plus, I love an audiobook with an African accented reader.

Holy cow, though. The story really skewers the Christian LDS missionaries and the hypocritical mission work to render all LGBTQ people both criminals and worthy of death. I can believe there are many countries where homophobia is still a majority-led prejudice, and attacks on gay people are still so frequent and seldom prosecuted, but it's been a while since I'd read/heard about such hatred and violence, it took me quite aback. Plus the domestic violence, the infidelity, and the murders! Great mystery, satisfying ending, and I look forward to the next adventure for our girl Emma.

I picked this one out to diversify my lgbt reads and and was intrigued by the premise. It was written well, the narrator of the audiobook was excellent, and I liked that we got insight into the current climate around lgbt issues in Ghana. However this was only a 3/5 stars for me, I liked it enough but I wasn’t gripped by the plot. This could also be due to the fact that I’m a big fantasy/scifi reader though.

There are lots of TWs for this one too, lgbt hate crime, domestic rape, sexual assault, religious violence, depictions of corpses.

Thanks to netgalley and rbmedia for an advance listening copy of this :)

I’d like to thank NetGalley and RB Media for making the audiobook available to me to review.

I was very happy to read Whitewashed Tombs, because I didn’t know Kwei Quartey and now I’ll be reading more of his work. The audiobook is absolutely delightful, if you like audiobooks, go for it! The legend Adjoa Andoh is the one reading it, and she really brings all the characters to life masterfully.

The plot is very interesting, intertwining foreign religious lobby meddling in other countries policies. Meanwhile thorough investigative work is done by our protagonist Emma. I did not see that plot twist coming!!

TW: LGBTQI+ violence, suicide, homophobia, transfobia, SA, among other difficult topics.

The reason I’m not giving this book 5 stars, is because I really didn’t like that all the trans people were killed and abused in such horrific ways. I think that even if reality is so so dreadful, we need fiction to provide us with some respite. I find that always having trans people in the receiving end of the ultimate violence can make our imagination populated by this kind of images. I wish that at least one of them had survived. The homofobia and transfobia that Paloma receives wasn’t even contested by Emma in one of the meetings, that didn’t sit well with me.

Kwei Quartey is is must-read, must-buy author for me, based on previous readings of his police procedural and detective fiction set in Ghana. Quartey can craft a vivid atmosphere like no other, describing urban and liminal spaces with brief but meaningful phrasing. One moment that comes to mind: the in-between space between a main road, a megachurch and urban sprawl, a potentially dangerous territory over which protagonist Emma escapes from evangelicals with violent motives. This novel presents the psychological and physical brutality of homophobia unsparingly, so readers may want to proceed with caution. I had to, but I also couldn't stop listening to this excellent audiobook. Adjoa Andoh's narration is superb, as one would expect from such an accomplished actor, and Quartey is impressively skilled at building tension and plot construction. The story moves quickly, and soon feels like a runaway train. Outright lies, secrets, disguises, a pair of unsettling brothers that earn their keep as hired muscle, Emma's undercover investigation -- these and other elements combine to make a firecracker of a story! Cultural and historical information flows smoothly within the story -- there's a conversation in which a Ghanian history of precolonial gay relationships rebuts the idea that homosexuality was brought into the country by outsiders. There's a lot of wry, accurate satire of the behavior of greedy American evangelicals (and their social-climbing Ghanian counterparts) more interested in large audiences and promoting dangerous homophobia than they are in housing and feeding the poor. Trans and gay characters are depicted as people deserving of kindness and respect, though (spoiler) as this is a crime novel, tragedy interrupts. For a relatively short novel, it is complex and engrossing, and private investigator Emma is becoming one of my favorite characters -- and I'm usually squeamish about crime fiction.

Rounded up from 2.5.

A series of improbable invents set in Accra, Ghana. I didn't hate it but I also didn't like it enough to be interested in any of the author's other works.

Set in Ghana amid growing unrest around LGBTQIA+ issues, The Whitewashed Tombs uncovers the mysteries of the community while grappling with society that is unwelcoming to a part of it population.

hate-crimes, propaganda, crime-thriller, crime-fiction, Ghana, ex-cop, politics, private-investigators, detective, suspense, LGBTQ+, triggers, international-crimes, investigations, friendship, friends, family, cultural-differences, murders, violent-crimes, violence, audiobook*****

This book was a difficult read whether one is an ally or an opposer of life choices that have been endemic in professions once all male throughout the ages. It delves into political twisting both by conviction and for monetary gain by both nationals and those from other continents. As usual, this sort of thing resulted in particularly violent murders. Emma Djan left the CID and went to work for a prestigious private firm, but that did not remove her from violent crime investigations or political abuses. It was sometimes difficult for me to follow the plot lines because of the multitude of necessary characters, but that helped me wade through the vitriolic rhetoric against people who have done no harm to their abusers.
This book will make you think.
Adjoa Andoh brings Emma and other characters to life.
I requested and received a free temporary audio EARC from RBmedia | Recorded Books via NetGalley. Thank you
#EmmaDjanInvestigationsBk4 #LGBTQ+ #HateCrimes #Ghana

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Kwei Quartey, RBmedia/Recorded Books, and NetGalley.

This was delightful. This is the 4th book in the series, I haven't read the first 3 books in this series. None the less, I wasn't confused or lost starting with this book. This a blend of both police procedural and cozy mystery with elements of law & order, mixed in for spice. I loved Emma, her boss, and her team. This had that familiar character feel that sometimes occurs with cozy mysteries. At the same time, this was fairly police procedural in set-up, though this focused on a PI.

I like that this addressed the hypocrisy regarding anti-gay bills, which are human rights violations being pushed by white Americans. US christian hate groups target many West African nations with their horrible transphobia & homophobia. Those hate groups are run by racist far-right groups. Which is really just the cherry on the giant poop pie of this bizarre situation. Homosexual & transgender people aren't the result of white people bringing toxic culture to the Motherland. Rather, the phobia is what the white missionaries brought. The gay and Trans folks were already there😬 Prior to colonization and the spread of oppressive christianity, gay and trans folks were accepted. White christians brought the hatred and it spread like the infection it is.

The reveal was not who I guessed, and that's refreshing. This was a fast-moving, well-written mystery and procedural. This story does contain racism, sexism, DV/IPV, homophobia, and transphobia both mentions and scenes. This focuses on violence towards the LGBTQA+ community. I need to move the first 3 books in this series up to the top of my tbh list.

This was narrated by possibly my favorite narrator, Adjoa Andoh. The narration was superb, sublime, perfection. It felt very much like having Lady Danbury personally narrate a book for me. I love how she handled the accents. It felt effortless and was engaging. I binged this in an afternoon/evening.

Thank you to Kwei Quartey, RBmedia/Recorded Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.