DEATH UNDERFOOT

Hawk's Nest, a game-viewing lodge outside Nairobi, is where seductive Diana Farwell is killed—toppled from a platform into a rampaging elephant herd. Diana and her new husband, Morgan, were sharing a veranda table with their hosts in Africa, livestock scientist Peter Shropshire and his young wife, Helen; bankers Guy Fulton and John Mallow; Mallow's heavy-drinking wife, Letty; and local playboy Nick Causington, who was obviously besotted with Diana and is soon arrested for her murder. Inspector James Odhiambo of Nairobi was also at the scene as the guest of lawyer George Albinger. His objections to Causington's arrest are ignored as political, tribal, racial, and economic forces come into play, all seeking to sweep the incident and its even more violent aftermath into oblivion. On his own, Odhiambo explores Diana's unsavory past years in Africa, producing a motive that leads to the chilling finale. Though sometimes jumbled, a richly engrossing first novel and an un-touristy expedition into East Africa.