Tail of the Blue Bird

A beautiful meditation on the relationship between old and new worlds in developing Africa.

Sonokrom, a village in the Ghanaian hinterland, has not changed for thousands of years. Kayo is a forensic pathologist convinced that scientific logic can shatter even the most inexplicable of mysteries. But as events in the village become incomprehensible, Kayo finds that Western logic and political bureaucracy are no longer equal to the task.

'A delightful book that combines the basic tug of the whodunit with the more elegant pleasures of the literary novel' Independent

Sonokrom, a village in the Ghanaian hinterland, has not changed for hundreds of years. Here, the men and women speak the language of the forest, drink aphrodisiacs with their palm wine and walk alongside the spirits of their ancestors. The discovery of sinister remains - possibly human, definitely 'evil' - and the disappearance of a local man brings the intrusion of the city in the form of Kayo, a young forensic pathologist convinced that scientific logic can shatter even the most inexplicable of mysteries.

As old and new worlds clash and clasp, and Kayo and his sidekick, Constable Garba, delve deeper into the case, they discover a truth that leaves scientific explanations far behind.