Folly by Jassie Mackenzie

Emma Caine might as well change her address to Rock Bottom because that is where she's pitched up. No job—her employer went insolvent. No university degree—no one is hiring without an education. No money—her husband, Mark, is in an expensive care facility with irreversible brain damage. No support—financial or emotional from well-off in-laws and brother. About to lose her house, horses, and cats, Emma falls back on the skills learned as a phone sex operator. In her 20s, she learned that she had a knack for servicing men who "wanted to be dominated, punished, controlled" and became a specialist in telephone domination. But that isn't going to be enough to save Emma and she moves to the next level reinventing herself as Mistress Caine. There are enough items in her tack room to get her started as a dominatrix and she quickly sets up her dungeon in The Folly, a small cottage on her property in Johannesburg, South Africa. Emma soon has a growing client list but finds her resolve to maintain a professional distance from her subjects shaken when Simon Nell arrives for his session and it isn't the whip that is generating heat in the dungeon.

Folly is as far from my usual blog content as you can get so why did I order a copy from South Africa and why am I featuring it here. Jassy was one of the first South African crime writers I read and I'm familiar with her writing style and character development. I've been a fan from the first Jade de Jong book. There was no question that I would have to read Folly when I learned she was moving into alternative romance. I wasn't worried that I would be presented with little more than a series of loosely connected bad sex scenes.

So, what's the opinion of someone (60+ male) who doesn't read much romance fiction, much less romance with a  BDSM theme? Very Good.

Let's get one thing out of the way first. Do we call this "mommy porn", a term that appears to have originated with EL James' Fifty Shades of Grey? Jassy is OK with the term but she emphasises that the romance has to trump the erotic. In an ABC News feature, Angie Rowntree says about her web site's erotic videos " What our audience wants is to see a passionate love scene that is filled with chemistry and sensuality..." Folly works like that so I'm adding "mommy porn" to the labels for this post.

I like character driven stories and Jassy has a well rounded, well developed set of characters in Folly. Emma comes across as a real person with real needs and real conflicts. She's not a cardboard frustrated housewife or naive young person under the sway of an older pervy guy. When we first meet her, she has been beaten down by circumstances but not defeated. We get a hint early on (chapter 2) that there is going to more to Emma than is immediately obvious. An amusing daydream involving her officious lawyer lets us know that, given the opportunity, this isn't a woman you want to mess with. In a short 255 pages, Jassy does an excellent job taking Emma from a nearly broken woman to a woman in command.

Likewise with Simon Nel, the client who wants to become more than the receiving end of a riding crop for Emma. The spark between him and Emma provides both the tension and the hot sex. The relationship between Emma and Simon becomes more balanced as the story progresses which is an odd thing to say when we are talking about a dominatrix and someone who submits to one. He's a nice guy, one who complements rather than contrasts the main character. The motivations and tensions of Emma and Simon struck me as realistic with no suspension of belief required.

What about the punters who engage Emma's services and the services she provides them? Not being into BDSM myself, I don't have anything to go by but I'd say that Jassy provides a nice mix of types. Authors often get asked where they get their ideas and in this case Jassy and Emma have one thing in common, both worked phone sex lines specialising in domination. While Jassy didn't take it to the next level as Emma did, she is going to have insights into the type of man who needs a dominatrix and the sorts of domination they require.  This gives Folly a tone of authenticity that keeps you in the story and makes the dialog and action between Emma and her clients more enjoyable and interesting. "It isn't all "kiss my whip you impudent worm": there is humour. The scene with Emma and her first client had me laughing out loud which is awkward when your spouse asks you what is so funny. "Well, there is this guy and he's being whipped with a riding crop by a woman wearing riding boots and a black bustiere and ..."

The sex, it must be addressed, this is mommy porn after all.  The word "sodden" is often used and I'll leave it to your imagination how Emma and Simon get to that state. Because we are talking about erotica, there has to be a "mind-blowing" quality to the sex as pent up passions are explosively released. The tension of the story arises because Emma is fighting her urge to be with Simon while telling herself that she needs to maintain a professional distance. There is a progression in the sex scenes, the anticipation builds with the tension, as Emma deals with her inner conflicts.

I am enjoyed my first foray into alternative romance fiction. Folly has good characters in a good story without any "oh come on, no one would..." moments. If you like this romance sub-genre or want to read something in it that is actually well written or you're just curious what this kind of story is like, I recommend it highly.

On a personal note, I am claiming the first North American sighting of Folly as well as the first North American review.  Jassy's other books are available in the US and I hope Umuzi (an imprint of Random House Struik) decides to make Folly available as well.

Jassy Mackenzie is an author, horse person, and editor living in Kyalami, South African, a suburb of Johannesburg with her partner, horses, and cats. She is the author of the Jade de Jong crime thriller series (Random Violence, Stolen Lives, Worst Case/The Fallen, Pale Horses) and the stand-alone Cain and Able themed, My Brother's Keeper. She first dipped into the BDSM genre with the short story Tough Love which you can read here. I can personally recommend all of her books and short stories. Here is Jassy's website.

Nigerians in Space by Deji Olukotun

Amazon Kindle ed.

Nigerians in Space is Olukotun's first novel and I hope he has another in the works because this one grabbed my interest from start to finish. The title sounds as if it might be science fiction but it is a crime thriller—with maybe a touch of mysticism—set primarily in Cape Town, South Africa. The story moves between 1993/94 and the present.

In 1993, a glib Nigerian government official named Bello makes an offer to Nigerian scientists working around the world. Come back to Nigeria, invest your knowledge in the country of your birth, and together we will make Nigeria the center of technology on the African continent. We will plant the Nigerian flag on the moon. He calls this plan the Brain Gain. He seems to have the money and resources and all he asks is for each scientist to steal a piece of their research to prove their commitment to the project.

But is Bello for real? Can he deliver? Or is this the ultimate Nigerian scam? Lunar geologist Wale Olufunmi, studying rocks from the moon, in Huston, Texas is pulled into Bello's scheme. More than anything, he wants to go into space. He steals a sample from the first moon landing and flees with his wife and son to Washington, DC. But Bello isn't there to meet them, Wale can't go with the contingency play, so he has to improvise. He takes his family to Sweden where he knows there is another scientist who has been recruited. Everything goes wrong for Wale and he stands to lose his dream, his family, even his life.

In addition to Wale's story, we have two other plot-lines. In the present, there is Thursday Malaysius, a man gifted in cultivating abalones (or perlemoen or perlies), a protected species in South Africa. Thursday lets a boyhood friend lead him astray and soon he finds himself an abalone poacher. Melissa is a young woman and a victim of Bello's plan. She finds herself abandoned and stranded in France. Her unusual skin condition propels her toward a direct confrontation with Wale and Bello. She is also the source of what I think of as the mystical elements of the story.

These three plot-lines— scientist on the run/hiding; abalone poacher; young woman—run parallel with the action shifting between the three as the story advances. The author brings the stories together near the end with the mystical (but non-supernatural) power or pull of the moon and moonlight. Ethereal might be a better word than mystical but both occurred to me as I read.


The author blends fact, fiction, and a few liberties with history into an intriguing and many faceted story. He provides a wealth of cultural detail that gives the story roots and shows that it couldn't be plunked down in any location.

The Brain Gain story line is interesting and compelling. The Nigerian Diaspora is  real. At the time the novel begins (1993), Nigeria was about to transition to a democracy after a free and fair election. Bello would have been riding on a wave of optimism that he could pull off his Brain Gain plan. But later in 1993, the election was nullified and the military junta took over. Good-by dreams.

Wales is Nigerian from the Yoruba ethnic group and the story is sprinkled with Yoruba and other ethnic proverbs. Even more fascinating is how the author works in the Yoruba mythos surrounding twins. Nigeria has the highest incidence of non-identical twins in Africa (45 per 1000). Twins are considered to share a soul and if one twin dies, a small statue is carved to represent the deceased one. The statue is called an ibeji. In the story, Ibeji takes on a sinister aspect.

The author wrote Nigerians in Space while living in South Africa and much of the story is set in Cape Town and the Western Cape town of Hermanus. With Thursday Malayius the story takes on a hardboiled/noir tone when Thursday, a generally decent fellow, finds himself a key player in the illicit perlemoen (abalone) trade with Chinese mobsters making him an offer he can't refuse. This might not seem to fit into the overall story arc but it all comes together, honest.

Readers who enjoy a good sense of place will appreciate the way the author presents the Observatory (Obs) suburb, bordering the actual Royal Observatory which plays a important role in the story. Obs is close to the University of Cape Town and consequently has a large student population. It is also a place used for short term accommodations by foreign workers.

The main plotline(the Nigerians) is unusual and generated curiosity in me. Enough to send me to find out more. The cultural aspects of Nigeria and South Africa both rounds out and pulls the story together.

I was given an e-book version for review but purchased my own copy before I finished. I liked it that much.

Nigerians in Space
Deji Olukotun
Ricochet Books, 21 Feb. 2013
Kindle edition


 Nigerians in Space is available in Kindle edition

Murder of Norman Ware by Rosamund Kendal

Advocate Norman Ware has been murdered in the men's room by the pool in the exclusive San Le Mer eco-estate near Durban, South Africa. The '...murder was the culmination of a series of seemingly unrelated, purely random events.'

Rosamund Kendal builds her story on the lives and actions of 20 people who contributed to Norman Ware's murder—21, if you include Norman himself since he played a part in his own demise. 21 character studies! How can the author pull that off without the story bogging down? In Kendal's case, very well, indeed. The stories-within-a-story are sometimes humorous, poignant in one case, and deliciously cynical when examining politicians, corrupt businessmen, and wealthy suburban dwellers. You'll find some anthropology, sociology, politics, and history worked in. Since at the heart this is a murder, you also get some police procedural and decidedly non-CSI forensic science.

As a reader, I couldn't wait to find out how each person's story fit into the overall scheme. I wasn't disappointed by any piece to the puzzle which is no mean feat when you are juggling this many mini-narratives. After I finished the book and found out how Norman Ware came to be dead, I went back and mapped out the connections between the characters and the murder and marveled at how well the author pulled everything together. I wish I could give some examples but there is no way to do so without spoiling part of the story.

I don't think I've ever read a crime story structured like this one and found it an irresistible, fun read. I think non-South African lovers of a good mystery (such as myself) will enjoy it as well and perhaps learn a bit.

I learned about this book from a brief blurb on Books Live announcing the launch party and found it available for download from kalahari.com. It was a happy whim on my part that I gave into impulse and purchased it. How much do I like this book? When it became available on Kindle I purchased a second copy so I would show up as a an Amazon Verified Purchase when I posted my review.

The Murder of Norman Ware is available for the Kindle and in print at Amazon and Adobe DRM epub and print from Kalahari.

Detroit Breakdown by D.E. Johnson

Detroit, Michigan, 1912. A vibrant, active city, the trolleys are packed no matter the time. The automobile industry is booming with the electric vs internal combustion engine question still to be decided. The suffragette movement is going strong.

A late night anonymous call takes Elizabeth Hume and Will Anderson to Eloise, the insane asylum outside of Detroit. Her cousin, Robert Clarke, a long-time resident there, is accused of strangling another patient. But Robert says it was the Phantom. Francis Beckwith, son of the hospital administrator and himself a schizophrenic, agrees. Francis is obsessed with  The Phantom of the Opera, and says the murder was committed with a Punjab lasso, just as in the book. Furthermore, there have been three other murders committed in the same manner.

Elizabeth wants to clear her cousin but there is something fishy going on at Eloise. The Asylum is a small town with its own police force and gates have slammed shut against outsiders. Frantic for information —Elizabeth can't even find out where Robert is being held —Elizabeth agrees to let William get himself committed so that he can continue the investigation from the inside. For her part, Elizabeth forms a plan to become a volunteer at the hospital. With the plans in effect, Detroit Breakdown shifts into thriller mode with plenty of action to bring the story to a perilous and satisfying conclusion.

Detroit Breakdown was an unexpected treat. I don't often read historicals but I accepted Detroit Breakdown as a review copy and I was quite pleased with the reading experience.

This is the third in a series featuring Elizabeth Hume and Will Anderson. As such, there is a lot of backstory. The author doesn't do a data dump of everything that happened previously but integrates references to prior events into the story as the characters experience feelings of self-doubt or guilt. What is soon obvious is that the Elizabeth and Will are tortured souls— emotionally, psychologically, and, in Will's case physically. The story can be enjoyed without knowing the entire backstory but I'm going to follow up by reading the first two books: The Detroit Electric Scheme and Motor City Shakedown.

If you are looking for a book with a strong, independent female protagonist then this book should satisfy. Elizabeth comes across as the stronger, more adept of the two characters. She is an active suffragette, preparing for the vote to ratify the 19th amendment. She owns two guns and shows herself capable of using them. She has vulnerabilities and insecurities but is a determined, proactive woman. I quite like her. Both she and Will appear to be prone to drug abuse but have overcome that by the events here. Will's role is to take the physical brunt. Here and in the previous books, he suffers horrific physical trauma. Both Elizabeth and Will are complex characters with backgrounds they have to suppress to solve the mystery.

I visited Detroit several years ago and it is fascinating to read about a time when it was thriving. This being Detroit, the competing automobile industries are part of the story. Will's father owns Detroit Electric which began as Anderson Electric Car Company. I hadn't thought much about early electric cars before reading this book but it sent me off to Wikipedia where I learned that Detroit Electric was an actual company started by someone named Anderson. Elizabeth drives an electric which allows the author to work in the logistics of owning an electric automobile. Interesting stuff particularly with the battery powered car making a comeback with the hybrids and the Tesla.

The main focus of the story, Eloise, was an actual psychiatric hospital. As in the story, it was self sufficient in many ways with its own train stop, police force, fire station, pig farm. It even had the tunnel that figures into the story. The Tales of Eloise web site is an interesting read and it was fun to compare the map included in Detroit Breakdown with the map of the actual institution. Johnson  graphically illustrates the state of psychiatric care at the turn of the century. Have amnesia, don't speak English, the police found it convenient to warehouse problems by sending to the mental hospital. Psychiatric therapy was just emerging when the story is set so we see alternate approaches to treatment that we would consider horrific today.

Detroit Breakdown is a good read particularly if you enjoy a well written historical story. Johnson works the culture, fashion, lifestyle, and technology of the day into the story naturally without leaving readers feeling that they have happened upon entries from an encyclopedia. I like the characters, enough to want to read the first two books in the series. They're flawed human beings which makes them more interesting, even likable. You'd want them on your side in a fight.

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

Last year I was excited to see that Megan Abbott had a new book out. But cheerleaders! Nah, not for me. Jump ahead to January and I'm browsing bookshelves and see Dare Me. "Hold on", I think to myself, "this is Megan Abbott. She wrote the novel Queenpin (a Jim Thompson style noir that I love) and the non-fiction book, The Street was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir (which I have on permanent loan from the library). She's hardboiled and knows her stuff" and picked up a copy. This was a lesson to me and Megan I'll never doubt you again. I loved the book from page one and consumed it in one sitting. I'm late to the game and won't be doing a full-on review but, for those readers who know nothing about Dare Me, these blogs wrote what I wish I had so check them out:
Full Stop
Three Guys One Book
Jen's Bookshelves
Spinetingler Magazine

Full Stop calls this a "suburban noir" and it's a good description. The teenagers in Dare Me are dark, hardboiled, and like a gangland mob with a rigid hierarchy and a vicious enforcement of discipline. Mean Girls. Hah! This cheerleading squad would eat them for breakfast.

The crime isn't the main focus of the story which is the power struggle between Beth, the head girl, her faithful lieutenant Addy, and the new coach, Colette French. The story is pretty self-contained in that the rest of the high school is more or less a shadow behind the actions of the squad.

Megan's prose is perfect and the lyrical flow of the first person narration pulled me into the story. The characters became scary real the more I read and I was both fascinated and repelled by them.

When you read Dare Me, I recommend you make a note of the cheerleader routines Megan describes. There are You Tube videos demonstrating all of them. Stop reading and take a look at what the girls are doing. Remarkable stuff.