Michael Stanley Shares the Stories, Characters, and Inspirations Behind Their Acclaimed Mysteries
PHOTO: Authors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, writing together as Michael Stanley, bring the heart of Botswana and southern Africa to life through unforgettable mysteries.
Exploring Botswana’s Rich Landscapes and Deep Human Stories Through Crime Fiction
Michael Stanley discusses setting mysteries in Botswana, creating the beloved Detective Kubu, addressing serious issues through storytelling, and the seamless collaboration that brings their award-winning novels to life.
Michael Stanley has long been a luminous name in the world of crime fiction, crafting mysteries that are as rich in character as they are in atmosphere. With their acclaimed Detective Kubu series, Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip—writing under their shared pen name—have brought the stunning landscapes, intricate cultures, and deep moral questions of southern Africa vividly to life. Their novels are celebrated not only for their gripping plots and unforgettable characters but also for the way they weave urgent issues like environmental threats, corruption, and cultural change into compelling narratives.
From their debut A Carrion Death to their latest prequels Facets of Death and A Deadly Covenant, Michael Stanley’s work has consistently demonstrated a rare ability to balance heart-pounding storytelling with nuanced explorations of human complexity. Whether it’s the clever, compassionate Detective Kubu or the determined journalist Crystal Nguyen in Dead of Night, the characters they create feel both timeless and deeply grounded in place. It was a true pleasure to sit down with Michael Stanley to discuss their inspirations, creative process, and the deep respect for Botswana and its people that beats at the heart of their unforgettable books.
Michael Stanley’s masterful storytelling combines unforgettable characters, vivid settings, and urgent social themes, making their mysteries both gripping and profoundly meaningful.
What drew you to set your mysteries in Botswana, and how do your personal experiences there shape the settings and stories?
Botswana is a country of wonderful wild life and fascinating people. We’ve both spent considerable time there, much of it together. Our first mystery novel, A Carrion Death, was sparked by seeing a large clan of hyenas kill and totally consume a wildebeest, eating everything except the horns. It struck us as a wonderful way for a murderer to dispose of a body!
We’ve visited every location that plays a role in our stories and we visit hotels, restaurants, police stations, jails. Our books have a strong sense of place as a result. We have long been admirers of the San, or Bushman, peoples, and several of our books feature them and their approach to life. Often on our visits we discover some small fact that leads to an important twist. Who would guess that a certain town having only one petrol station is vital to the murderer?
Detective Kubu is such a memorable character, embodying the tension between traditional African culture and modern global influences. How did you develop him, and what does he symbolize for you?
He actually largely developed himself. In A Carrion Death when the murder is discovered – the hyena hadn’t finished his meal – one needs a detective. Kubu climbed into his Land Rover and set out into the desert for the long drive, well supplied with food, drink, and music. Along the way, he thought about how he’d become a detective, his love of puzzles, and being shown how to see what’s hidden by a Bushman school friend. We soon realised that this very large and somewhat overweight man (his nickname means hippopotamus in the local language) not only had taken over the novel, but had become the protagonist of a series.
Kubu is very smart but has a strong moral compass that isn’t always comfortable. As you suggest, he is in the modern culture developing in Botswana, yet his background is in the traditional African culture of his parents. The people he deals with are on both sides of that border. We feel this introduces a natural tension and one that’s interesting to see from both sides.
“Understanding those local issues may be crucial in solving the case.” — Michael Stanley
Your work often tackles serious issues like poaching, corruption, and environmental threats alongside gripping mysteries. How do you balance raising awareness with telling a compelling story?
Although we’re South Africans, Botswana gives us a setting where we can explore a variety of real issues that affect the people of southern Africa without being overshadowed by the legacies of apartheid. In each of our books, one of these issues supplies a backstory in which the tensions naturally lead to the crimes and the mystery. Understanding those local issues may be crucial in solving the case. It’s never our intention to educate the reader, but we hope experiencing cultures and issues that are different from those of the western world is part of the entertainment.
“We sometimes say there really is a Michael Stanley somewhere in the ether who writes these books!” — Michael Stanley
As a writing team, how do you collaborate—especially when it comes to blending two voices into one seamless narrative? Unlike many writing teams, we both do everything – writing, research, plotting. When we’re working on a book, we each take a chapter or two and write a first draft. Suppose Michael writes a chapter. He’ll then send it to Stanley, who reads it and makes changes, suggestions and comments. Then it goes back to Michael. Michael will be intrigued by some of the suggestions, argue about an altered word, deal with the comments, and send it back. The chapter will then go back and forth multiple times until both are satisfied with the final result. Apart from improving the writing and plot, this has the effect of smoothing the writing styles. Neither of us has written any part of the book alone. We sometimes say there really is a Michael Stanley somewhere in the ether who writes these books!
