I enjoyed the sense of place in this book. Although it is very much just a murder mystery, it is shaped by its setting. And even though the difficulties of modern life are central to the story, it doesn't descend into presenting Ghana as a horrible place, a fault that I find with many books written for American audiences set in other countries (here's looking at you, lots of Chinese-American literature).

I am troubled by the fact that none of the traditional practitioners and followers were presented favorably in the book. Granted, the author is a medical doctor, and there's a certain conflict there, but is there nothing positive about the tradition? Would real people be so tradition-bound that they would put up with a gross drunkard of a religious leader?