Rosamund Kendal

A diverse cast of eccentric characters, an exclusive eco-golfing estate on the Natal South coast, and a murder – what could be more delightful? In a scenario Agatha Christie would have appreciated, medical doctor-cum-author Rosamund Kendal presents us with South Africa in a microcosm in this tale of murder and mayhem.

Advocate Norman Weare made plenty of enemies in the San la Mer estate, a modern equivalent of the English village, and Detective de Villiers has no shortage of suspects after the mutilated body is found hanging in a men’s ablution block by a hung-over gardener.

Tom Sharpe meets Desperate Housewives as we meet a cross-dressing homophobe, a sangoma who sells body parts as muti, a philandering plastic surgeon, a corrupt BEE businessman, a recluse whose phobia about snakes amounts to mania, and a murderous paedophile.

This light-hearted romp may not win any literary awards but is a humorous and enjoyable read.… (meer)

This book is about Sue Carey, a hardworking, motivated 20-something medical doctor, who works in one of the biggest public hospitals in Cape Town. Her shifts are filled with extensive hours of seeing innumerable patients with conditions ranging from the more-than-regular stabbings, and rape, to HIV-AIDS, and cancer, and everything in-between.

She mentors interns, so always has young doctors-in-training with her on her rounds. Her long hours pretty much rule out a social life, though she longs for male company. When she eventually gets off from work, she drinks a tad too much, and always swears off alcohol afterwards – until her next break from the harshness of working amongst a poverty-stricken population with its own terrible social and economic problems.

Most of the book is set in the hospital, as Sue goes about administering to her patients. The book has been likened to Bridget Jones and hinges on chick-lit. There is a bit of romance, a struggle to come to terms with the illness of a friend, hurdles in her professional career as she grows and learns to roll with the punches life doles out to her. This was a light, fun read.… (meer)