British East Africa, 1914

It is 1914, Justin Tolliver and his tribal lieutenant Kwai Libazo are still smarting from the dreadful events that ended their work on the police force a year ago. Justin and his wife, Vera, are establishing their farm in Ngong. Kwai and his baby daughter are living on the property, but tension still exists between the two men. One beautiful Sunday moming, a passing stranger discovers a dead body on the road that leads to their home. A Kikuyu man has been shot in the back. Vera and Tolliver soon learn that the dead man is Kwai's half-brother. When Kwai begins to investigate his brother's death, complications pile up.

As word of the crime leaks out, Kwai's search for the murderer inflames the underlying tensions between and among the various groups now inhabiting the Protectorate of British East Africa: the king's faithful empire builders of the administration, the missionaries who largely defend the rights of the tribal people-who have lived there for millennia, and the upper-class white British who are moving in and accustomed to rule over the places they occupy.

Vera walks a tightrope, trying to help the investigation process. Being the daughter of a missionary and the wife of an English aristocrat, she finds herself in the center of all the tension. The closer Kwai gets to securing justice for his dead brother, the wider the tension spreads. Will Justin Tolliver and Kwai Libazo be able to cooperate fully despite the emotional gap that has formed between them?

These beautiful new editions of the Vera & Tolliver series have been in the works for a while now, and I’m so proud to be able to introduce them to you now!

Visit the majesty of Africa through Vera McIntosh and Justin Tolliver as they solve a series of murders amidst colonial British East Africa. A member of the police force, Justin is starting to question his superiors as well as the British government. Vera, on the other hand, is the daughter of Scottish missionaries and has grown up on the land, passionate about preserving it. Already feeling a budding romance between them, it does not take long for the pair to join forces. In doing so, they soon realize that these mysteries grow more complicated the closer they look.

“Alfieri aims for the audience who loved Out of Africa, with heartbreaking romance married to a complex mystery.” –– Kirkus

“Alfieri illuminates the complexities and cruelties of colonial rule while giving readers an engrossing romance and mystery.” ––Booklist

“Alfieri’s novel brings Africa to Technicolor life. If you don’t have the urge to re-watch Out of Africa with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep after reading, your sense of discovery needs to be resuscitated.” –– Kings River Life Magazine