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James McClure

This page lists novels, short story collections and non-fiction by James McClure.

Cover images are, when possible, of the first UK edition and a recent paperback or digital edition.



This page is divided into two sections.

By James McClure:
- novels, story collections
- non-fiction

 

James McClure: Novels and story collections

The Steam Pig

James McClure

Gollancz

1971

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"In the debut mystery featuring Lieutenant Kramer and Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi set in South Africa, a beautiful blonde has been killed by a bicycle spoke to the heart, Bantu gangster style. Why?"
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The Caterpillar Cop

James McClure

Gollancz

1972

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"When a twelve-year-old boy is found strangled to death with multiple stab wounds, his killer is assumed to be a pedophile. Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and his sidekick, Bantu Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi begin to investigate and soon learn that the boy had been involved in a detective club that encouraged children to spy and snitch on people, and no one likes a snitch. Whom was Boetie spying on? As the two men look into possible leads on the case, they must also navigate increasing tensions surrounding racism in the '70s in South Africa, and Kramer finds himself on the receiving end of much of the hatred."
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Four and Twenty Virgins

James McClure

Gollancz

1973

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The Gooseberry Fool

James McClure

Gollancz

1974

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"Hugo Swart, faithful churchgoer and respected citizen, is found stabbed to death on the floor of his kitchen just before Christmas, on the hottest night of the year. If Mr. Swart's Reverend is to be believed, no one in the world could have a reason to kill him; the murder was most likely a robbery gone ugly, and the chief suspect is Swart's black servant, Shabalala, who has fled to the countryside. But Lieutenant Kramer suspects that not everything is as it seems. Danger lies at every turn - what will this investigation cost the duo?"
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Snake

James McClure

Gollancz

1975

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"Lieutenant Kramer and Sergeant Zondi have their hands full. On the same day that an adult entertainer known as Eve is found accidentally strangled to death in her dressing room, her pet python wrapped dead around her neck, a beloved candy shop owner named 'Lucky' Siyayo is shot to death at his counter in a botched robbery. The detective duo quickly realise neither death is as simple as it looks on the surface. It becomes clear a killer is on the loose, but Zondi and Kramer must figure out what the killer is after."
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Rogue Eagle

James McClure

Macmillan

1976

"High in the mountains of Lesotho an elite secret organisation plots a terrorist outrage that could throw South Africa into political turmoil."
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The Sunday Hangman

James McClure

Macmillan

1977

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"Tollie Erasmus, an unsavory bank robber on the run, is hung from the neck until dead. Unfortunately, the execution was administered without the benefit of a South African judge or jury. Somewhere there s a killer who knows far too much about the hangman s craft, and Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and his Bantu assistant, Mickey Zondi, must find him before his trail of death continues."
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The Blood of an Englishman

James McClure

Macmillan

1980

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"For six days, Tromp Kramer of the Murder Squad and his Bantu assistant, Mickey Zondi, have been searching for the man who put a .32-caliber bullet into a South African antique dealer, and they still don’t have a single lead. Then on the seventh day, Mrs. Digby-Smith opens the trunk of her car and discovers the hideous, tied-up corpse of her younger brother. The two violent crimes are seemingly unconnected. But as Kramer and Zondi pursue their investigation, startling connections turn up in the sordid underworld of Terkkersburg - and in the secret, unresolved enmities of World War II."
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The Artful Egg

James McClure

Macmillan

1984

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"Naomi Stride was a wealthy woman, and her death has left several people richer--none more so than her twenty-six-year-old son Theo, with whom she had long had bitter differences over money. She was also a controversial woman, a writer whose novels had been banned in South Africa. But was it for money, politics, or some other unknown reason that she was killed? And why was her naked corpse strewn with flowers and herbs? These are the questions South African Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and his Zulu partner, Mickey Zondi, must answer. But this task becomes much more difficult when Kramer is unexpectedly taken off the case. Ordered by his superiors to discreetly "wrap up" a fatal accident that could be embarrassing for the South African police, he is plunged into a second investigation, and (fighting to keep it free of political whitewash) he and Zondi find themselves moving inexorably toward a haunting and horrifying climax."
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Imago: A Modern Comedy of Manners

James McClure

Otto Penzler Books

1988

"During a visit to old friends, Dr. Tom Lockhart, a disillusioned, weary man in his early forties, falls hopelessly in love with their lovely eighteen-year-old daughter."
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The Song Dog

James McClure

Faber & Faber / Mysterious Press

1991

A Tromp Kramer and Mickey Zondi novel.

"The year is 1962. Young Lieutenant Tromp Kramer of the Trekkersburg Murder and Robbery Squad has been ordered up to Jafini, a small, dusty town in northern Zululand, to investigate the "hero's death" of the town's chief detective, Maaties Kritzinger - another Afrikaner maverick, and one with many secrets. Kramer finds himself increasingly identifying with the victim as the investigation proceeds. And then his path crosses that of Bantu Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi, who is trying to locate a multiple killer whose summary execution will quiet the spirits of his ancestors. Despite racial differences, the two men sense a kinship . . . one that might prove dangerous in rural South Africa in the year of Nelson Mandela's imprisonment."
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God It Was Fun: The Collected Stories and Scripts

James McClure

?

2014

Probably only published electronically.

"James McClure's short-stories have for the first time been collected together in one volume - along with his first sale, a full-length Vietnam War drama, and his original screenplay for The Steam Pig. Using locations as diverse as the English countryside, the rat-tunnels of Vietnam's Iron Triangle and the crime-ravaged streets of a great American city, McClure again evokes the power of virtue, as well as evil, to disturb, entertain and enlighten, confirming his legacy as one of crime fiction's most distinctive and far-reaching voices."
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James McClure: Non-fiction

Killers

James McClure

Fontana / HarperCollins

1976

"Five Of The Strangest Murder Cases Of The Century - The Stories Behind The Trials Seen On Thames Television."
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Spike Island: Portrait of a British Police Division

James McClure

Macmillan

1980

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Cop World: Policing The Streets Of San Diego

James McClure

Macmillan

1984

"Based on first-hand research and interviews with people of all ages, backgrounds, and ranks, this portrait of the men and women of the San Diego police force interweaves the dramatic incidents of a cop's daily life with personal viewpoints, insights, and analysis."
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Colloquium On Crime: Eleven Renowned Mystery Writers Discuss Their Work

Editor: Robin W. Winks

Scribner's

1986

James McClure is one of the contributing authors.

The other contributing authors are: Robert Barnard, Rex Burns, K. C. Constantine, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Michael Gilbert, Donald Hamilton, Joseph Hansen, Tony Hillerman, Reginald Hill, and Robert B. Parker.

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Last updated August 2018