Cover image of "The Whitewashed Tombs," a novel about anti-gay laws in Africa

Kwei Quartey has shined a bright light on life in contemporary Ghana in the ten mysteries and thrillers he has published to date. In his tenth novel, The Whitewashed Tombs, he writes about the persecution of people who identify as LGBTQ, pointing the finger at a massive nationwide campaign for anti-gay legislation bankrolled by right-wing American Christian zealots. Born and raised in Accra and now a retired physician living in California, Quartey identifies himself in a prefatory author’s note to the latest book as a “queer Ghanaian-American writer.” And his pain and passion come through clearly on every page. He chronicles the murder of three prominent Ghanaian gay activists—and the protracted investigation into their deaths by the talented young private eye Emma Djan. The novel is an insightful guide to the dynamics of anti-gay laws in Africa.

Murder mysteries illuminating Ghana’s social challenges

Emma Djan is the protagonist of four of Quartey’s novels to date. She is one of the younger investigators at the Sowah Detective Agency in Accra and the only woman. In the three previous books, she has investigated online identity theft, an overprotective religious family, and sex trafficking. All three are murder mysteries, as is the latest book. In The Whitewashed Tombs, Djan teams up with an older man, himself homophobic, investigating the murder of Marcelo Tetteh, a vocal LGBTQ activist. And when first a second then a third gay activist dies a gruesome death by machete, Djan goes undercover at the American religious charity funding the government’s development of anti-gay legislation. The story is compelling and suspenseful all along the way.

The Whitewashed Tombs (Emma Djan #4) by Kwei Quartey (2024) 321 pages ★★★★★

Photo of protesters in London against anti-gay laws in Africa
Demonstration outside the Ghana High Commission in London on March 6, 2024, to protest against Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill. Image: Adrian Dennis – AFP

Official anti-gay legislation in sub-Saharan Africa

As France 24 news reported on December 18, 2024, “Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed legal challenges against a controversial anti-LGBT bill, clearing the way for President Nana Akufo-Addo to sign it into law. The legislation, among Africa’s strictest, criminalises promoting LGBT rights, despite warnings it could jeopardise billions in international financing.” In The Whitewashed Tombs, the bill is still under consideration in the Ghanaian legislature. But the president did, in fact, later sign the bill into law. Ghana’s move followed developments in Uganda, which received extensive coverage in the US. There, “President Yoweri Museveni kickstarted the move to have the viral anti-gay rhetoric codified. . .into law.” But these two countries are in no way alone.

Map of penalties under anti-gay laws in Africa
Image: Institute for Security Studies

In fact, individuals identified as LGBTQ face substantial penalties in most of sub-Saharan Africa. The price they pay for living their lives in truth can be as severe as life imprisonment or even in three countries (Uganda, Nigeria, and Somalia) the death penalty. And, make no mistake about it: American right-wing activists played a leading role in nourishing and funding these developments, as Quartey demonstrates in this novel. Skeptical? Check out the article in Foreign Policy magazine (March 19, 2023) entitled “How U.S. Evangelicals Helped Homophobia Flourish in Africa.”

About the author

Photo of Kwei Quartey, author of this novel about anti-gay laws in Africa
Kwei Quartey. Image: African American Literature Book Club

In an author’s note prefacing this novel, Kwei Quartey notes that this book is “a deeply personal narrative in a way that none of my other novels have been . . . [It’s] a reflection of my heritage and identity as a queer Ghanaian-American writer, my personal advocacy, and, indeed, quite some pain over the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.”

Quartey is the author to date of nine detective novels set in Ghana, the country of his birth. Five are police procedurals featuring Inspector Darko Dawson of the Accra police (published from 2009 to 2017). Four later novels starring private investigator Emma Djan appeared from 2020 to 2024. Quartey is a retired physician who worked for nearly two decades as an urgent care doctor. He lives in Pasadena, California.

I’ve reviewed the first three books in the Emma Djan series:

You’ll also find reviews here for four of the five books in the author’s earlier, Darko Dawson police procedural series:

You’ll also find this book on 30 top books about Africa and The best mysteries set in Africa.

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