Parker Bilal, the writer with Sudanese roots, has written a series of books on the Sudanese detective Makana. This man has left his Sudan and moved to Cairo and here he works as a private detective. 

We follow Makana in his daily chores on his boat, that he rents, his struggles with his landlady (boatlady). One day he is invited (very strongly advised to come) by mr. Hanafi, a very rich and infuential man, who owns a soccerteam (amongst many other things). Adil, the starplayer of the team, has disappeared. Now Makana gets the task of finding this player.

Makana discovers  that the disappearence of Adil is not the only problem Hanafi has. His story is interwoven with the story of the British woman Liz Markham, who looks for her daughter, who disappeard in Cairo. We encounter a journalist who writes an article on Adil and his connections. We meet corruption, death and disaster, touristhide-outs and a Russian connection. 

At times I had to recoop in order to follow the different strands of the story. But reading this book is very much worthwhile. It was a good read.

Parker Bilal – The golden scales – 2012