Kramer and Zondi
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The Kramer and Zondi novels are a series of Police procedurals by James H. McClure set in apartheid era South Africa. The action largely takes place in the fictional city of Trekkersberg[1] As a whole they form a subtle but damning critique of everyday life in Natal during the years of National Party rule[2].
Tromp Kramer is an outwardly conventional Afrikaaner from the "one-horse dorp"[3] of Bethlehem in the Orange Free State. When in conversation with a conservative colleague like Dr Strydom, the pathologist, he adopts the racial prejudices expected of him. In the field, however, he relies heavily on the incisive deductions of his Bantu assistant, Mickey Zondi. For example in The Song Dog it is Zondi who uses his knowledge of tracks to locate a fugitive: he knows a child takes the most discursive route, a woman the most practical and the man the most direct.[4].
The books contrast the moral differences between the two men ( Zondi a dedicated family man; Kramer an amoral opportunist)[5] while hinting at a deep respect for each others' abilities.
Notes
- ^ Most critics conclude it to be a thinly veiled depiction of Pietermaritzburg "Following the Pig's Progress": article by Aitchison,T in The Natal Mercury, 13th September 1974.
- ^ Perhaps inevitably the books received lukewarm reviews in his home land The mystery of McClure's Trekkersburg mysteries: Text and non-reception in South Africa Peck, R; English in Africa; May95, Vol. 22 Issue 1, p48, 24p
- ^ The Gooseberry Fool
- ^ 1994
- ^ Despite meeting the alluring Widow Fourie in the first novel The Steam Pig he is still happily single at the end of the series.
