by M.M. Kaye, 1958
Great mystery set in Kenya right after the Mau Mau revolt. Flamingo, the estate owned by Aunt Em, in Kenya. Her niece, Victoria, comes to live there. First, Alice is murdered, the wife of Em’s grandson, Eden. Then, Kamau disappears, then Gilly Markham is murdered. Then an attempt on Victoria. It was Aunt Em. She didn’t want to lose her beloved Flamingo–wanted Eden to marry Victoria, his first love. Author’s Note: “Few people nowadays will remember the Mau Mau terrorist rising in Kenya, and millions more will never even have heard of it. But it was an unpleasant business while it lasted. I happened to be in Kenya towards the end of that period, because my husband’s regiment had been sent there to deal with ‘The Emergency’–which was the white settlers’ name for it. And despite some hair-raising moments, I can truthfully say that I enjoyed every minute of my stay in that marvellous and exciting country.”
“The idea for this story came into my mind one evening when I was standing on our verandah in the dusk, and I heard birds calling down in the papyrus swamp that fringed the shores of Lake Naivasha…”
Wayne talked about a song by Warren Zevon, “Leave My Monkey Alone,” that mentions Mau Mau. He wiki’d it and only 23 whites dies, but many Africans died.
Another quote from the book – Drew Stratton – the hero – is answering Victoria, when she says, “But it is their country.’ “Whose?” demanded drew, without turning his head.
‘The – the Africans.’
‘Which Africans? All this that you see here, the Rift and most of what is known as the White Highlands, belonged, if it belonged to anyone, to the Masai. But it is the Kikuyu who claim the land, though they never owned a foot of it–and would have been speared if they’d set a foot on it! The place was a no-man’s-land when Delamere first came here, and the fact that cattle and sheep can now be raised here is entirely due to him and men like him. And even they didn’t just grab the land. The handful of Masai then inhabiting it voluntarily exchanged it for the enormous territory that tribe now holds.’
One more M.M. Kaye book to read, “Shadow of the Moon.” Done with all her wonderful mysteries.