Present Tense

Natalie Conyer

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Paperback

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English

ECHO
01 December 2024

Fiction & Literature; Crime & Mystery

Cape Town, South Africa. Retired police chief Piet Pieterse has been murdered, necklaced in fact. A tyre placed round his neck, doused with petrol, set alight. An execution from the apartheid era and one generally confined to collaborators. Who would target Pieterse this way, and why now?

Veteran cop Schalk Lourens is trying to forget the past. But Pieterse was his old boss and when Schalk is put on the case, he finds the past has a way of infecting the present.

Meanwhile, it's an election year. People are pinning their hopes on charismatic ANC candidate Gideon Radebe but there's opposition and in this volatile country, unrest is never far from the surface.

Schalk must tread a difficult path between the new regime and the old, between the personal and the professional, between justice and revenge.

This investigation will change his life, and could alter his country's future.

PRAISE FOR PRESENT TENSE:

'A truly remarkable book. South Africa comes to vivid life in these pages.' - Kerry Greenwood

'Present Tense is an atmospheric and taut trip into the heart of the complex modern-day politics of South Africa. A fascinating read.' - Jacqui Horwood

'A gritty dive into the dangerous world of South African policing where the long shadow of the past hangs over the present. Clean, taut writing from a writer to watch.' - Malla Nunn, author of the Detective Emmanuel Cooper series

By: Natalie Conyer
Imprint: ECHO
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 364g
ISBN: 9781760689681
ISBN 10: 1760689688
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 01 December 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Natalie Conyer was born and grew up in Cape Town, but has lived in Sydney for many years. Present Tense is Natalie's debut novel, a hard-boiled police procedural set in Cape Town and featuring Schalk Lourens, an ordinary cop trying to find his way in a thrilling and dangerous country. It won Australia's prestigious Ned Kelly Award for the best debut crime novel of 2020, was shortlisted for the Davitt Awards and was nominated one of 2020's best reads by the national newspaper, The Australian. The second Schalk Lourens book, Shadow City, was published in Australia in 2024. Natalie's short stories have won several awards and been featured in anthologies such as The Only One in the World and Dark Deeds Down Under Volume 2.