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When Marcelo Tetteh, a Ghanaian gay activist, is found brutally hacked to death, his father hires the Sowah private investigation agency to find who was responsible. Given the climate in Ghana, he doubts the police will expend much effort investigating the crime. Local politicians and the public have been whipped up by a visiting American couple who preach homophobia as a religious obligation. Their organization, the International Congress of Families, has been promoting harsh anti-gay legislation throughout Africa with appearances at mega-churches. Since Tetteh had recently protested at one of their glitzy celebrity-style gatherings, leading to a brawl, his father believes the murder was a hate crime. But until they know more, Sowah and his staff look at every angle.
Emma Djan knows that one of her colleagues, Jojo, has a secret: he, too, is gay. Since he once had a relationship with Tetteh, he's given another assignment while she and Manu, whom she never got along with, go undercover to investigate the evangelical organization while also following up on the possibility a relationship gone sour was behind the crime.
Pretending to be an avid volunteer, Emma gets inside the American organization while Manu tracks down the coalition they are developing with churches and a local traditional leader. But it doesn't take long for another body to surface – one of Tetteh's love interests has been similarly hacked to death with machetes. Soon, a transgender artist and friend of Jojo is threatened, too, as the climate for resistance to the new legislation grows increasingly dangerous.
As we follow Emma's efforts to solve the murders, we also gain insight into the toxic relationship of the glamorous American couple who are working up crowds with their religious family-themed message of hate. They, and the Ghanaian religious and political leaders who are promoting violence, are hardly paragons of virtue. Quartey does a good job of making their foibles complex and human while also illustrating the scriptural verse of the title: pious leaders are often, like whitewashed tombs, hiding their own hypocritical corruption.
It's not often that mysteries come with a content warning. After all, readers are used to all kinds of gory violence. In this case, the material is disturbing in a different way. In addition to being a well-plotted mystery that makes good use of an appealing heroine, Quartey is calling attention to a very real issue, which as a gay Ghanaian himself is personal. For the past twenty years, American evangelicals have been radicalizing Africans against LGBTQ+ individuals and their supporters through missionary appeals, leading to repressive and dangerous laws in Ghana and other countries.
That said, Quartey hasn't sacrificed a good story for a message. It's a compelling mystery with a foundation in a real issue, something that is true of all of his mysteries. This fourth entry in the Emma Djan series continues to build on strengths and will inform as well as entertain its readers.
§ Barbara Fister is an academic librarian, columnist, and author of the Anni Koskinen mystery series.
Reviewed by Barbara Fister, September 2024
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