Hi readers! This week, we have an excerpt from The Idol Of Mombasa, the second novel in the Vera And Tolliver historical mystery series by Annamaria Alfieri, after the debut title Strange Gods.
1912: on the coast of British East Africa, the invasive and obtrusive British are tangled in an uneasy peace with the Sultan of Zanzibar. The British have outlawed the slave trade, but, well, it’s all a matter of who you know and who you owe, isn’t it? This slippery morality infuriates Vera Tolliver, a Scottish missionary’s daughter and the bride of Justin, an English police officer whose job it is to enforce the law… after he figures out what it is. The murder of a runaway slave only increases the complications, especially when a longtime friend of Vera’s is the likeliest suspect. Meanwhile both the British government and the Sultanate sail above it all, as though they have nothing to do with it, but Vera and Tolliver know their fingers are knotted into this tangle’s every strand.
In the following excerpt, Vera and Tolliver have returned from their honeymoon and are just finishing their breakfast. Vera has been urging Justin to give up his job with the police force. He wants to continue, at least for a while, and has accepted an assignment in the port city of Mombasa.