A Study of Shona Detective Fiction

This book discusses the emergence and development of the Shona detective story as a genre different from the mainstream Shona novel. The Shona detective story emerged from the non-detective traditional folktale and developed into three main types, namely, the rudimentary form, the pure 'whodunit', and the detective-thriller. When the Shona detective story first appeared it was quite elementary and showed signs of the influence of the Shona traditional folktale. Later on authors developed the 'whodunits' and detective-thrillers which showed characteristics that are so common in Western detective stories. It is also shown in this book that the treatment of female characters is not different from their treatment in the mainstream Shona novel. In fact, the Shona detective narrative is an extremely masculine genre in which female characters are never made heroes. This book should meet the expectations of all those who need to have an insight into detective fiction in general, and Shona detective fiction in particular. Specifically, it meets the needs of students of literature and other researchers who may be interested in the discourse about crime and its detection.