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-- 'FOWL MURDER' --
AUTHOR VICTORIA TAIT
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Fowl Murder: A Cozy Mystery with a Determined Female Amateur Sleuth (A Kenya Kanga Mystery) by Victoria Tait
About Fowl Murder
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Kanga Press (July 21, 2020)
ebook, 190 pages
Digital ASIN: B089RRXBC1
A shooting on the savannah. A tragedy she’d rather forget. When past and present collide, will she survive to see her future? Kenya, 2016. Semi-retired vet Rose Hardie just wants to enjoy her golden years and care for her disabled husband. But her peace of mind shatters when a forgotten confidant returns and reopens a case where Rose pulled the trigger. With her memories of the poacher’s shocking death flooding back, she barely catches her breath before her childhood friend is brutally murdered.
Braving blackmail and entrenched corruption, the tireless woman dives headfirst into helping the victim’s son solve the crime. But when the lead suspect is killed, Rose’s plans for a peaceful life end up dead and buried…
As her own traumatic history unravels, can Rose catch a killer before she becomes the next victim?
Foul Murder is the first book in the compelling Kenya Kanga Mystery series. If you like determined heroines, unpredictable twists and turns, and vivid African settings, then you’ll love Victoria Tait’s pulse-pounding tale.
About Victoria Tait
Victoria Tait is an exciting new author launching her Kenya Kanga Mystery series. She’s drawn on 8 years living in rural Kenya with her family to transport her readers to a world of curiosity, community and conspiracy. The Kenya Kanga Mystery series brings to life the beauty of the Kenyan landscape, the magic of its wildlife and the warmth of its people.
The
Kenya Kanga Mystery Series: the Meaning behind the Name
Welcome
to Fowl Murder, the first book in the Kenya Kanga Mystery Series.
Kenya
The
series is based in Kenya, a country on the eastern side of Africa with a
coastline adjoining the Indian Ocean. It is the 48th largest country by area in
the world, and the 29th most populated with nearly fifty million people. The British colonised Kenya between 1888 and
1962, when it gained independence and was ruled by Jomo Kenyatta; his son Uhuru
is the fourth and current President of Kenya.
Mitumba Stallholders
Most
of the ‘mzungu’ or white/European settlers are of British descent, although many
nationalities are now represented including Americans, Dutch and South
Africans. In Nanyuki the dominant
African tribe is the Kikuyu, the largest ethnic group in the country making up
approximately 20% of the population.
They were the first to rise up against the British and as a result have
dominated business and politics, with three out of four presidents being Kikuyu.
I
lived in Nanyuki, where Rose lives, for six years and in Gilgil, another small
town, for two more, before
returning to the UK. Nanyuki straddles
the equator: a large
yellow sign with a red banner announcing ‘Equator’ at the southern entrance to the town
is a popular place for tourists to be photographed.
Equator Sign at Nanyuki
I
have drawn on the sights I saw, the experiences I shared and the amazing people
I met to write this series. Every day gave me something to
wonder about: whether it was a boda boda motorbike carrying a sofa across it,
with a man sitting on the sofa; being stuck in a traffic jam on one of the
busiest roads in Nairobi only to find the cause of the delay was a Maasai
herding his cows the wrong way up the carriageway; or the majestic beauty of
Mount Kenya after a fresh snowfall on its three peaks.
Mystery
My
aim is for my readers to progress through the investigations Rose and her
companions undertake, in their shoes, piecing together the puzzle to complete the
whole picture. A reader may guess the
murderer’s identity
before Rose, but not
how or why the killer acted in the way they did. I like to play fair: Rose will have the same
information as the reader, and the murderer will not be a character introduced
at the end of the book, or at the beginning and not seen again until the end.
Kanga
Finally
the word ‘Kanga’ which has two meanings.
It is the Kiswahili—the national language of Kenya—name for guinea fowl. Most commonly seen are flocks of red or blue-wattled helmeted guinea fowl, with white
spots on black feathers and a helmet-shaped protrusion on their heads. The vulture guinea fowl is larger, has a bald
head (which gives it a look not dissimilar to a vulture, hence the name) and swathes
of black and white striped feathers over a royal blue feathered breast.
Blue Wattle-Helmeted Guinea Fowl
Guinea
fowl are hardy birds adapting to many environments, and flocks of up to thirty
birds are often spotted on the savanna, dry bush, or areas on the edge of forests. They roost in trees at night for safety. During the day they scratch at the ground
seeking seeds, insects, tubers and occasionally a small snake as food. Some people who keep these semi-domestic birds claim they make excellent
guard-birds,
notifying the presence of intruders with their high-pitched call.
The
second meaning of Kanga is that of brightly coloured cotton material. It is thought that the spotted patterns of
some designs reminded people of guinea fowl feathers, which gave rise to the name Kanga. It is impossible to drive down a street in a
Kenyan town, particularly if you visit the coast, without seeing a lady with a
brightly coloured Kanga wrapped around her waist, tucked in like a towel.
Kanga Swatches
A Kanga is a piece
of printed cotton fabric one and a half metres long by one metre wide with a
wide border pattern, known as a pindo, and a separate central pattern. In the early twentieth century it became
common to include a saying or proverb, known as a jina, in the cloth.
There
are many ways to wear or use a Kanga: a toga style dress, a headdress, or a
baby carrier where the cloth is wrapped around the baby on its mother’s back,
and securely tied across the mother’s front.
Double or even quadruple pieces of Kanga can be found stretched between
poles to create a sail style sun-shade.
I
aim to incorporate an animal into the title of each book in the series. Book 2, which will be available in October,
is called Tusk Justice and revolves around elephant conservation. My free novella, which is only available to
members of my book club, is called Grevy Danger and begins with the Great Grevy
Rally, an event to count the endangered Grevy’s zebra. Readers can join my mailing list and obtain
their free copy of the book by visiting my website VictoriaTait.com
Grevy’s Zebra
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Author Links: You can find Victoria at https://www.victoriatait.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaTait
Blog/News: https://victoriatait.com/news/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20373879.Victoria_Tait
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/vataitauthor/
Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo
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Thank you June for hosting Fowl Murder on your blog.
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