t from.
This is a book the common man on the street and students and teachers of literature would enjoy reading and studying respectively.
The novel Case Closed is a gripping thriller involving the investigation of the murder of a top civil servant Ben Bvunza.
The investigation centres on George Shamba who is a highly influential and powerful black businessman-cum-commercial farmer near the city of Gweru.
Ironically, it turns out that the deceased was Shamba’s friend and business partner. The action-packed detective story features the ever-diligent Chief Inspector Caleb Dube and the indispensable Sergeant Moses Musindo.
The drama begins when Chief Inspector Dube, while driving home to Gweru from Bulawayo, discovers the body of the ‘best dressed man’ in a storm drain at the turnoff to St Francis Mission on the outskirts of Gweru. Dube’s first port of call is the nearby mission where he meets his former teacher and friend, Father Hugh, who later identifies the deceased as the man who had visited him in church to make his confession.
The reader expects the priest to divulge the contents of the confession but he does not do so for ethical reasons. Neither does Dube press him to do so. The painstaking teamwork Of Dube and Musindo eventually leads to the arrest of George Shamba and two of his farm workers.
These witty policemen defy all obstacles in their way and finally gather insurmountable evidence to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Shamba was indeed involved in the murder of Ben Bvunza. The investigation also reveals that Shamba was involved with a foreign white man in shady deals involving precious stones and weapons of war. Boxes of weapons are found at both men’s farms. When Dube and Musindo have gathered over-whelming evidence and reliable witnesses to pin down Shamba, the Assistant Commissioner, Dube’s boss, drops a bombshell: the case must be closed immediately. Shamba is far too important a man to prosecute.
This intriguing novel uncovers a murky world of greed, exploitation and corruption; this is the main theme of the story.
It shows that society is a mixed bag of people, with good people at one end and bad ones at the other. The detectives and others who want to see justice done represent good while the murderer and his accomplices stand for the cynical misuse of power and money.
Henson tells this detective story with a passion that over-spills to the reader. It is a fast-moving story that urges you to read on and on until you curse the writer for ending it. The book is definitely above the ordinary narrative and possesses the ingredients of a thriller in an African setting. Case Closed should find it easy to compete with others as a literature setbook in schools, colleges and universities locally and outside our borders.
Case Closed offers good reading in the wake of the ongoing police investigations into various crimes committed in the private and public sectors of our society.
There is a striking similarity between the imaginary case in Case Closed and real cases that have been investigated by the police and reported in the local media. This book will be of interest to everyone who abhors crime, from the man in the street to those in high office. – JK
Postscript: Case Closed by Pauline Henson was awarded the Second Prize for Literature in English at the 2004 Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
Post published in: Arts