Novel
Mzimu wa Watu wa Kale
Not translated into English
Muhammed Said Abdulla · 1960
Synopsis
Bwana Ali has not come home, and he is found with his head cut off; rumour links his death to the sanctuary of the ancients, a place said to be haunted. Bwana Msa, a private detective who is used to getting ahead of the police, conducts the investigation with his friend Najum, who goes everywhere with him and questions him about his reasoning, from the sanctuary to a black bag, from a stolen sabre to the house of an Indian merchant.
Context
The story won first prize in the Swahili short story competition organised in 1957 and 1958 by the East African Literature Bureau, which published it in book form in 1960 and reprinted it several times. It broke with the tradition of the tale, which then dominated Swahili prose, by borrowing from Conan Doyle the pairing of the detective and his naive companion, who accompanies him without understanding and marvels at his deductions.
Who it is for
A short detective novel, written in Swahili. The whole series follows the same detective, Bwana Msa.
Prizes and reception
It founded the Swahili detective novel, a genre now abundant throughout the region, and opened the series of its detective.