Jassy Mackenzie

Jassy Mackenzie's third South African crime thriller featuring P.I. Jade de Jong is The Fallen.

From her Q & A with Randy Dotinga at the Christian Science Monitor:

Q: For people who haven't read your books, what can you tell us about your main character, private investigator Jade de Jong?

A: Although she'd been away for 10 years in the first book, she is quintessentially a South African. She has a deep love for South Africa in spite of all its failings and in spite of the crime; she loves the diversity and the people.

The crime in South Africa facilitates Jade in a lot of her work. It allows her more carte blanche than she'd have in a country that had fewer problems.

Q: South Africa is a major character itself in your books. To an outsider who's never been there, it comes across as an extremely violent place in which the rich live hidden behind security guards and electrified fences. How do you wrestle with your depiction of the country where you still live?

It's a case of being truthful and having an eye for detail.

I know that some readers initially see only the fact that it is a very violent country. You'd struggle to find anywhere else that has the same number of extremes because it's also a place that has an incredible heart to it.

There's an amazing generosity and wonderful spirit in the people who are here in South Africa, an unbelievable kindness and friendship that you can be shown by a complete stranger who may actually not even have a job.

It shows its faces and facets in so many ways, and yet you have this violent side. Then there's...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Jassy Mackenzie's website.

Jassy Mackenzie was born in Rhodesia and moved to South Africa when she was eight years old. Her novels include Random Violence and Stolen Lives.

The Page 69 Test: Random Violence.

The Page 69 Test: Stolen Lives.

--Marshal Zeringue