Newspaper: The Witness
Reviewer: Stephanie Saville
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A WHODUNNIT on steroids, in The Murder of Norman Ware, Rosamund Kendal has created an ingenious plot with the cleverest of endings.

The book introduces the reader to the community and surrounds of San Le Mer, a luxurious golfing eco-estate on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. As we meet those who live there and those who work there, we get a quick introduction to their lives.

But the well-maintained high security haven, while trying to block out the rest of the country and its less palatable side, cannot remain immune to the pervasive rot of society.

While there are many characters firmly embedded in life on the estate, there are others who have a tenuous link, and some who seem to have no relevance to anything at all.

Each introduction to a character is like a short story, or slice of life, on their own. We learn their background, who they are and their distinct foibles.

We learn next to nothing about the victim, Norman Ware, until the end of the book. We feel little sympathy for his untimely death, but are fascinated by the personas, of varying morals and social strata, we meet.

The pages seep with the moral decay of a society still in flux, the contrasts of innocence and experience, uber-rich and ultra-poor, sanity and madness, all jarring in perfect harmony as the complex story unfolds.

Yet, as the reader progresses, they scratch their heads over and over again. How will everything tie in? What could he or she possibly have had to do with the murder of the advocate? And why so many seemingly extraneous characters?

Fear not, dear reader. It all works out sublimely, packing a punch that will knock you for six.

It’s a wonderful holiday read and would make a great present for whodunnit fans, who can take a hefty dose of South Africa’s sinister, strange and sick side on the chin.