Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2014
272 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
In the sleepy Cape Winelands of South Africa the body of a young woman is found drifting in a river, and Detective Eberard Februarie is called in to investigate the case. It doesn't help matters that the young woman - Melanie Du Preez - was the daughter of a prominent local citizen. Professor du Preez is a lecturer in the University's Faculty of Law, and a conservative activist in the defense of the Afrikaans culture. Has a murder happened here, and if so, is the motive politics or something much more personal?
Eberard discovers a scrapbook of lullabies that Melanie had collected over the years, it's a clue that could unlock the case for him, if only he could figure out what he's looking for? A man struggling with his own demons, Eberard discovers even more secrets that lead him to the rotten core of this old university town.
Andrew Brown weaves a spellbinding story about prejudice and deceit, courage and redemption. The swift twists in the plot will keep the reader riveted and breathless. Intelligent, chilling, compelling.
"Starred Review. A London Sunday Times Fiction Prize winner, [an] outstanding series debut... Fans of gritty procedurals in unfamiliar settings will look forward to the next book." - Publishers Weekly
"[Brown] has cleverly and ironically woven a second narrative of the cruel past into the present. The mystery takes a back seat in this beautifully crafted scenario of hatred, intolerance and courage." - Kirkus
"Brown skillfully creates a handful of compelling and well-drawn characters and offers a plausible sense of a country still consumed by racial tensions and suspicion of immigrants from other African nations." - Booklist
"A beautifully assured whodunit." - The Sunday Times (UK)
"A cracker of a thriller." - Cape Times (South Africa)
"Excellent and gripping." - Pretoria News (South Africa)
"A first rate thriller." - Community Newspapers, Cape Town (South Africa)
This information about Coldsleep Lullaby was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Andrew Brown is an author, a lawyer, and a volunteer police officer who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Sunday Times Fiction Prize for Coldsleep Lullaby, and his work has also been shortlisted for the Alan Paton Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Africa Region). He is married and has three children.
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