This was a very good mystery set in Ghana. The author is Ghanaian-American and grew up in Ghana until moving to the states as an adult (from what I gather in online info about him!). I've read the first book in this series and was excited to be approved for this eARC.

The main character, Emma, works for a private detective agency, and you really get to know the whole agency more in this one. Each detective gets to go undercover and try to unravel the mystery of who killed Lady Araba.

There are a good mix of suspects and red herrings that kept me guessing and pondering "what if?..." all the way to the end. I considered the killer once in one of those musings but didn't think it would be them.

The timeline jumps around a lot, which was unnerving at first but I soon got used to it and it helped with the slow reveal of the killer.

I really enjoy the descriptions and the feeling of being in Accra. The first book was like that too. I will likely read his other series now because it has lots of good reviews.

Thank you to the author, Soho Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this combination of a murder mystery and an exploration of Ghanaian culture and political life. In spite of a massive cast, the characters were well-drawn and the mystery remained thus for much of the book. The way the author described how the staff at the detective agency worked together to uncover various aspects was very well done, and how they were hindered by the authorities (and the suspects), in some part also due to cultural reasons, was fascinating. The timeline jumps all over the place, which was a bit of challenge, but overall I definitely recommend. I had not read the first book in the series, but will be on the lookout for it.

crime-fiction, private-investigators, ex-cop, Ghana, detective-fiction, murder-investigation, suspense, mystery, international crime and mystery*****

Nearly a year ago a famous fashion designer was found murdered in her bed at her home in an exclusive gated community in what appeared to be a classic locked room mystery. But a relative believes that the wrong person was tried and imprisoned resulting in the hire of a highly revered private agency which employs Emma Djan. The timeline switches around constantly with flashbacks is definitely not my favorite format, but it does fill in a lot of blanks. For me, however, my favorite parts are the contemporary Ghanian culture and life because there is an authentic feel all throughout the novel - the mention of foods and places as well as the day to day customs / greetings. I did enjoy the mystery.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Soho Press/Soho Crime via NetGalley.

In a year with no international travel the next best thing is becoming absolutely immersed in a book set in another country. This one transported me right to Ghana with the food, the heat, the language, and the cultural practices. I listened to the audio version of the first book in this series so I am familiar with the accents and speech patterns and I could hear the dialogue as it is spoken. If you get a chance to sample the audio, please do because it adds so much character to the story. One example is the constant use of “yes please” which looks a bit strange in writing but hearing it used in conversation it becomes clear that this is a dialect quirk much like we Canadians say “eh.”

Emma returns along with a caste of quirky characters from the detective agency she has now joined. She still must deal with the general misogyny and sexism of Ghanaian society but being out of the corrupt police force seems to have given her new life and a fresh outlook. She has a new direction and new opportunities but still feels that she needs to prove herself as a detective in an agency full of men. This situation is a vast improvement over working for the police and her new boss gives her the chance to shine. Emma is such a likable, smart, determined character that I couldn’t help but cheer for her to be the one to figure everything out.

The murder mystery was entertaining, compelling, and not at all predictable. There were so many characters who were possible suspects, and they were sure a curious bunch! I changed my mind more than once about who I though killed her. In the end I was surprised but not completely shocked. All the clues were there mixed in with the signs pointing at everyone else. The story wrapped up in a satisfying way. Justice in Ghana seems like an unsure prospect at best, so it was satisfying to see it work out in this case.

I don’t think I would go so far as to categorize this series as “cozy”, but it isn’t overly dark or gruesome either. There is some moderately graphic child sexual abuse that is appalling and infuriating. This is undeniably the most disturbing element in the story as the violence and gore is kept to a minimum. It is a good, old-fashioned detective novel but the setting adds a whole new element that I find fascinating. I have enjoyed this series very much and I look forward to more cases with Emma and the Sowah Agency in the future.

Thank you Soho Crime for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

When requesting this, I had no idea it was a series. That being said, it's not a problem to read these out of order.

The timeline skips around which I'm not the biggest fan of. The dialogue felt too long when it could've been monologue or just not there at all. The writing was a little off to me but for the story, I thought it was well done and interesting. I went into it without knowing much about the story so I don't want to say too much. The setting and characters are refreshing as well.

Thanks to Netgalley and Soho for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A combination of detective story and murder investigation and exploration of Ghanaian culture and political life.

In the first novel in this series “The Missing American", we first meet Emma Djan and learn about her very short career in the Ghana police. Emma land on her feet when she finds a job as a detective in Sowah Private Investigations Agency. In “Sleep Well My Lady”, the agency has been hired to investigate the death of the wealthy Lady Araba, a fashion designer and member of Accra’s elite class. Told in a series of flashbacks involving Araba and her friends and employees, we come to know her and understand more about Ghanaian society.

The young detective begins to build her own working network of allies and contacts as she works the case with the vastly more experienced Sowah and the other members of the agency.

This is a solid investigative mystery, with the added bonus of the unusual setting in Ghana, and the glimpse into life there.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A good old fashioned mystery - that's what this book felt like - except it was set in Ghana. There was an authentic feel all throughout the novel - the mention of foods and places as well as the day to day customs / greetings. Love this! The book was paced very well and the mystery held my attention as I tried to figure out who did it - but all the details along the way were interesting too - not just who did it, but damn there were a lot of suspects. I have to agree with another reviewer though - I didn't feel as connected as I would like to some of the characters - Emma and DC Boateng ... Also, some of the way the "clues" were put together was a little too convenient / abrupt. Despite this, I really enjoyed the novel. It felt less like it was about Emma, and more like it was about the Sowah Detective Agency (I haven't read the previous book featuring Emma) and I do hope there'll be more.

Lady Araba is a successful fashion designer who lives and works in Accra, a city on the Gulf of Guinea and the capital of Ghana. It’s a big day as it’s the launch her latest fashion show but her assistant is in a panic as she’s failed to appear, on this of all days. As frantic calls are made in an effort to track her down, a worker at the guarded community where she lives spots Araba’s prone and blood covered body as he is delivering plant pots to her home.

At this point we’re taken back in time to when Araba as a young girl helped her aunt, Deli, design, make and sell clothes. This small scale operation proved to be the catalyst for Araba’s future ambitions. We also meet other members of the family: her dominant and abusive preacher father, her acquiescent mother and her brainiac brother. It becomes clear that Araba’s father always saw a future for his daughter in one of the learned professions but her aspirations and determined nature were to take her in a different direction.

We are also introduced to a respected talk show host called Augustus Seeza, a quick witted and handsome man who is to become Araba’s lover, at a point she herself has also become successful. Seeza’s father, an overbearing a high court judge and his mother, a doctor, both detest the fact that their son is in an extra-marital relationship with Araba. In addition to this on-off love affair, Seeza has one other compelling relationship… with booze.

Most of the above are later to become suspected of being involved in the murder for one reason or another, together with the worker who found the body. But oddly the one man nobody thought could have committed the crime – Araba’s personal driver – is actually arrested and charged with the murder by the chaotic and possibly corrupt local police force. It’s not until Araba’s aunt Deli approaches a local private investigator named Emma Djan, some ten months after the event, that she and her colleagues in the small firm she works for belatedly begin a proper investigation.

The tone of the story is somewhat whimsical, but with some darker undertones. The investigators receive a surprising degree of assistance from just about everyone they approach and soon they’ve compiled an exhaustive list of possible suspects. But hard evidence is difficult to come by, thanks mainly to the incompetent way police handled the evidence collected from the crime scene and possibly due to some external meddling.

In truth, it did all feel little slow in places and the constantly changing timeline, between the present and various points in the past, made the story telling a little lumpy. But I was captivated by the sweet nature of many of the characters and fascinated by the picture painted of life in this enchanting place, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. And the pace picked up in the last third of the book as pieces of the puzzle started, suddenly, to come together. If, like me, you’ve previously enjoyed Agatha Christie style whodunnit stories then I’m pretty sure you’ll get some pleasure out of this one too.

Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey is a superbly written book that will hold the reader's attention. well worth the time spent!

One of the things I like best about reading is traveling to places I would never visit on my own. Ghana is one of those places and I like this series set there with Emma Djan, private investigator, as the main character. She used to work for the police but wasn't corrupt enough to succeed so joined forces with a place where the employees actually care about arresting the person who committed the crime.

This case involves Lady Araba, a famous fashion designer, who is found murdered in her bed in her home in an exclusive gated community. I was surprised at the number of million dollar homes but apparently there are people in Ghana who are doing quite well. Lady Araba is preparing for a big fashion show before her death gets in the way. Her chauffer is arrested but nobody really believes he did it and her aunt ends up hiring the agency where Emma works. She wants answers.

It turns out there are a lot of suspects. There is the gardener who finds the body and likes to do some peeping. There is the alcoholic boyfriend who used to be an important TV interviewer before he does a drunken interview live. There are his parents, a judge and a doctor, who blame their son's alcoholism on Lady Araba. There is her family desperately trying to keep a family secret hidden. There is a business rival and a handsome assistant. It seems like everybody has a motive but the poor chauffer doing time in the prison.

It is an interesting story and I didn't guess the murderer although when I looked back the clues were there just like a good Agatha Christie novel. I really liked this book except for one thing. It roamed around in different time periods, a device I do not particularly care for but seems to be popular lately.

I love the sense of place and the armchair traveling. This is a nice series with lots of promise. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I love this series so I was happy to get to read the second book. Emma Djan is a great character and I enjoy reading about Ghana. I also did not solve the murder in advance, which I always enjoy.

I find the insights into the corrupt Ghana police and bureaucracy fascinating. I love that there are always a couple of people who are honest and helpful. And I hope that these characters make cameo appearances in future books. Specifically, I'd like to see Boateng and the Cuban doctor from the morgue reappear. I think it would be lovely for Emma to have a friend and confidante.

My only quibble is that I kept mixing Walter and Gideon up. It might be good to give them more individual characteristics. Also, at least on the kindle, the beginnings of each chapter are hard to read. The first few words are printed in a very light text that is almost impossible to distinguish. And there are a lot of typos, which is of course typical of an early draft.

A great second part to the collection. I loved this and the writing is incredible. Highly recommended xx

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Lady Arabic was murdered in her bedroom. She was dating Augustus who her family disliked. Emma who is a pi is asked to solve her murder with the list of suspects growing.

A self-made woman is found dead in her stately McMansion and a man close to her is imprisoned for the crime. Did he really do it? There are plenty of other people in her life who had reason to want her dead. I love Quartey's works for providing a window on another culture and the intricate plotting.

Kwei Quartey maintains his standard of excellence with this second book in the private investigator Emma Djan series. Quartey is not a "flashy" writer, but he knows how to tell a good story, filled with red herrings but also with solid clues that could lead the observant reader to figure out the identity of the murderer. Sleep Well My Lady doesn't amble; there isn't a wasted scene or interaction. It also doesn't rush past something a less skilled writer might wish the reader to overlook. For those of us who have read all of Quartey's books, this one adds to our cumulative knowledge of Ghanaian culture and to our admiration for his skill. Should I ever have the opportunity to travel to Ghana, it will not seem quite as foreign as it might otherwise. All-in-all this is an enjoyable mystery novel that readers should relish.

I didn’t hate the book, but I didn’t really like it either. The timeline switches around constantly, so that was a bit disorienting at first. After I got used to it, I feel like that actually improved the pacing of the plot. Some of the dialogue was clunky, like when characters would give long expositions meant more for the reader than for anything else. My biggest problem was that I was not really connected to any of the characters. There were lots of people, and you didn’t get to know any really well. There was some potential with Emma, but her portrayal seemed quite shallow.

An entertaining dive into Accra, the capital and largest city of Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean). We meet ministers, TV personalities, and fashion designers, along with detectives and gardeners. Mix in a murder corruption and a detective who wants to get to the truth no matter what it takes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Soho for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A very enjoyable classic murder mystery set in urban Ghana, following the unravelling of the violent death of a fashion designer in her gated community home. The detectives, a firm of private detectives are the most compelling, in particular a woman doing her first undercover work. Great setting, complicated family backstories explored through flashbacks/forward from the date of the murder. Want to read others by the same author.