The Cabinda Affair - Softcover

Matthew Head

3.79

33 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060805412 ISBN 13: 9780060805418

Publisher: HarperCollins (paper), 1981

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World War II is over but 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 - the beer, after all, is cold, and the women beautiful - but the other guests are an unpleasant mix of hangers-on, including 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.

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About the Author:

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.

Review:

Combines a strong sense of locale, compelling tension, psychological probing, and mordant wit. Mr. Head deserves a front rank among modern mystery writers --New York Times

Stamped with the civilized irony that is peculiarly Head's own --New York Times

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