Postmortem: Exploring South African Crime Fiction, by Alex J. Coyne

South Africa has a high crime rate, and perhaps ironically, its readers have developed a grand love affair with crime fiction. Broken cops, maverick detectives, gangland tales, and courtroom dramas set here are popular; redemption, justice, and crimes solved are all hopeful things compared to many of its true crime, hard news headlines. Crime fiction is especially popular where headlines are dominated by killings, heists, and slain detectives. South Africa’s ghosts don’t haunt graveyards, but gravitate to legal chambers, morgues, and prisons, where crime fiction is arguably just as popular as the country’s horror fiction library. Here’s a postmortem examination of South African crime fiction, going from its 1950s roots with Arthur Maimane’s stories in Drum Magazine or June Drummond’s The Black Unicorn, through to modern crime stories driven by amateur sleuths and professional (or retired) detectives. 

Early South African Crime Fiction 

June Drummond’s The Black Unicorn (1959) is widely accepted as the country’s first crime novel. The author admits, ‘publishers switched off on Africa for a long time; they felt that readers and critics heaved a sigh when they picked up a book about apartheid.’ The novel begins with: “The week before Max St. Cyr died, the temperature touched one hundred and ten in the shade.” The 1950s is called ‘a decade of political turmoil, ruled by resistance against Pass Laws and the rise of gangsterism. 

Journalist Arthur Maimane wrote the politically charged thriller Victims in 1976, drawing from experiences he’d observed and overheard in taverns and on the streets. A white woman gives birth to her rapist’s child, and in turn, she is ostracized from both white and black communities during the country’s Apartheid years. As Arthur Mogale, he wrote down stories of the local Sophiatown underground for Drum Magazine. 

The Soweto Uprising hits world news in June, 1976. Students protest against government, while a nervous police force opens fire on them. Fiction, like reality, is driven by fear and politics. 

Authors respond with political activism through their works, including Arthur Maimane’s own writing, Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter (1979), and the novel Amandla (1980) by Miriam Tlali. 

Nadine Gordimer’s novel The House Gun (1998) breaks new ground, exploring guns and violence after free elections. A white South African couple’s son is arrested for killing one of his housemates; The book was written at a time when house guns were as common as house pets. 

Post-2000s: Detective Fiction Takes Off 

Post-2000s fiction steers the genre away from politically charged tales. Sleuth stories and detective tales spike in popularity.

Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) by Phaswane Mpe is set in post-apartheid South Africa. Through it, readers go through the Johannesburg suburb. Issues like HIV/AIDS, crime, and xenophobia take the stage. 

Broadcaster and journalist Rob Marsh publishes The Serpent Under (2003), a ‘tale of murder, robbery, and deceit.’ The Serpent Under tells a good heist tale, drawing its inspiration from its morally-skewed main characters during a time when financial corruption and white-collar crime dominate the news. 

Margie Orford’s Like Clockwork (2006) starts with a murder in the affluent Cape Town’s Sea Point suburb. Fictional journalist Clare Hart trails a serial killer in this traditional sleuthing story. 

Angela Makholwa Moabelo’s Red Ink (2007) starts with Lucy Khambule receiving a call from a ruthless, habitual killer named “The Butcher”. Set in Johannesburg, it was also adapted into a Showmax series. 

Author Deon Meyer creates Benny Griessel that debuts in the novel Dead Before Dying, a fallen Cape Town detective with redeeming qualities. Writing via email, Meyer says: “Benny was an accident. I needed a character for just one chapter in my first translated novel Dead Before Dying — for a single plot point, and created an alcoholic cop named after one of my favourite school teachers. Benny did not want to remain a cameo character. He sort of crept up on me,” Benny evolves into a multiple book series, and Devil’s Peak (2007) adapts nicely to screen. 

Corporate Crimes and Undergrounds 

Real life crime dominates the news. Mining magnate Brett Kebble is killed in 2005, the topic of true crime book Killing Kebble by Mandy Wiener. Conglomerate Steinhoff expands its business interests in 2005, later the topic of the largest corporate fraud case yet. 

Fiction reflects truth Andrew Gray’s The Fence (2007) explores corporate crimes and blood diamonds. A different type of crime, Carel van der Merwe’s Shark (2009) explores CEO Stephan Winter’s obsession with money. Corporate crime tales rise, both in fiction and news. 

In real headlines, former Chief of Police Jackie Selebi is convicted on corruption charges and the 2010 Soccer World Cup brings increased police presence. 

Sifiso Mzobe’s Young Blood (2011) is a strong debut, set in Umlazi township (Durban, South Africa). Sipho, its 17-year-old character, is faced with the crime worlds temptations and realities. Umlazi is often affected by crime, including hits and mass shootings, which fiction hasn’t sufficiently reflected on until this pivotal work. 

2010s: Detective Fiction Returns 

Fictional detectives return to prominence in the 2010s, a reflection of South Africa’s thoughts. Author François Bloemhof creates the serial rogue detective Mark Steyn for Red Leopard (2008), and writer Mike Nicol releases Of Cops & Robbers (2013). We like to see solutions and redemption in a country where the wheels of justice turn slowly--and sometimes in the wrong direction. 

The Lazarus Effect (2011) by HJ Golakai tackles a fictional missing persons case, creating journalist and investigator Vee Johnson who comes back for The Score, set in Oudtshoorn where a simple writing job to review the lodge turns into an investigation for the lead character. Sleuths against killers gains popularity again with Chris Karsten’s The Skin Collector (2012), a sign of the times as the South African Police Service (SAPS) calls “conviction key in improving safety”. 

Horror author François Bloemhof writes Double Echo (2016), taking murder and intrigue to the Cape Winelands. The novel Double Echo follows retired cop Paul Mullan, who is offered a place to stay by wealthy businessman Bernard Russell: however, the novel soon turns to a classic cat-and-mouse tale, playing on favorite crime-novel tropes as a tribute to the whole genre. 

The nonfiction epic The President’s Keepers (2017), written by investigative journalist Jacques Pauw, exposes state corruption. Real-life detective Charl Kinnear is gunned down outside his Cape Town home in 2020: a story of phone tracking and espionage that could have played out as fictional crime. 

South African crime statistics rise for 2021/2022,and in turn, brings back Deon Meyer’s fictional detective Benny Griessel for The Dark Flood. Fiction is a worthy escape contrasting the reality that often lacks justice or resolution. Readers want to be thrilled, but also want to follow stories through to conclusions we don’t get to see in the news often enough. 

Alex J. Coyne is a journalist, author and proofreader. He has written for a variety of publications and websites, with a radar calibrated for gothic, gonzo, and the weird. Sometimes, he co-writes with others.