Kwei Quartey drew on his upbringing in Ghana and his expertise as a doctor while writing his 2009 debut novel, Wife of the Gods, a suspenseful story that centers on the murder of a medical student in Accra. The novel, which launched Quartey’s Inspector Darko Dawson series, follows the detective as he investigates the murder of Gladys Mensah, a volunteer for an AIDS relief program whose work leads her to the trokosi, young women who are destined for ritual servitude to a type of priest as atonement for the sins or misdeeds of their families. As Dawson seeks answers in the case, he witnesses the volatile tensions in a remote Ghanaian community that flare when science-based medical knowledge comes into conflict with the practices of traditional healers. —Cady Lang
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