This image is the cover for the book Cabinda Affair, Dr. Mary Finney

Cabinda Affair, Dr. Mary Finney

The author of The Devil in the Bush returns to Colonial Africa in a mystery that is “at once an absorbing whodunit and a distinguished novel of atmosphere” (The New York Times).

World War II is over but US gofer Hooper Taliaferro is still in Africa, typing up Uncle Sam's loose ends. The latest end is in Cabinda, a tiny Portuguese colony with gaily painted buildings and a history of slave-trading. Hoop should have a pleasant stay at the home of the local administrator—after all, the beer is cold and the women beautiful. Unfortunately, the other guests include a shady lawyer and an overly chummy Brit on constant look-out for a loan.

When one of them is murdered, Hoop calls in Dr. Mary Finney, the Miss Marple of the tropics. As usual, Hoop is a bit fuzzy on the details, but the formidable Dr. Finney has both stellar sleuthing skills and a .45 in her "necessaries bag." Both will come in handy if she's to sort through the tangled threads of the Cabinda Affair.

Matthew Head

Matthew Head is the pseudonym of John Edwin Canaday (1907-1985), an art critic and writer. Canaday was a New York Times art critic for seventeen years and authored several monographs of visual art scholarship. Late in life he wrote restaurant reviews for the Times. Under the Matthew Head pen name he wrote seven mystery novels, three of which are set in the Congo and based on his experiences traveling there as a French translator in 1943. Canaday was born in Fort Scott, KS; his series sleuth, Dr. Mary Finney, is said to be from Fort Scott as well.

Felony & Mayhem Press