Yudel Gordan Stories Series

The South African highveld, 1977 "They were coming for him as he had known they would. He could see the headlights on the track far below where the first truck had stopped at the donga and the second truck still struggled up the incline. Behind him was the spur that went all the way to the crest of the hill and, just beyond the crest, the barbed-wire fence. He knew that beyond the fence there was nothing like you had on this side – no hill, no farmlands, no distant plain – nothing at all." Muskiet Lesoro, terrified and schizophrenic, is accused of the murder of the local member of parliament's son. Farmworkers and family all agree that he had enough motive to murder the violent and racist young man. Like the victim, Lesoro also had an undeniable tendency towards violence. Only one matter raises doubt in the mind of eccentric prison psychiatrist Yudel Gordon: this was a poisoning and, in his view, Lesoro was no poisoner. Someone else, someone with greater control and the ability to plan must be guilty of the crime. To discover the truth, Yudel travels to the country town where the crime was committed. He finds a society in which the truth is a carefully guarded secret and the townspeople, the people of the nearby black township, and the priests and brothers of a hillside monastery: all live in fear. Yudel finds his own life at risk as he asks the questions no one else has dared ask. A night time flight through as burning field of maize brings him face to face with the reality he has been seeking. The solution is not one he would have chosen, had there been a choice.

Johannesburg, South Africa, 1974   "From the place where Cissy stood in the shadow of the used­car dealer's sign, watching, she could see the door dearly. She had passed it coming down the road and it had been open then. Through the narrow opening she had been able to see the stack of biscuit boxes that did not seem to have been opened yet.   "The cement floor was cold, she heard feet move on the floor. "Come out. I don't want to play games with you. I don't want any trouble." Cissy pushed the boxes away and scrambled out, half-rising, her hands clasped together in an attitude of supplication. "Please, Mister. Please, Mister. Me and my brother are very hungry."   Cissy Abrahamse was the eighth person to die in or near the store room of the Twin Sisters café. Most were street children, all were hungry and all yielded to the temptation of the half open store room door. The killer in every case was the aged and partly crippled café owner Johnny Weizmann. Protected by the Criminal Procedure Act through which such killings could easily be presented as self-defence, the courts had so far not seen his actions as crimes.   But Weizmann has ignored a court ruling that forced him to seek psychiatric help. When Colonel Freek Jordaan of the CID realises this, he compels Weizmann to visit prison psychologist Yudel Gordon.   Yudel's treatment of Weizmann brings him into conflict with the old man's friends in the security police who secretly approve of his killings. It also brings Yudel face-to-face with a mysterious black activist by the name of Muntu Majola. What the connection is between the activist, the old murderer and the security police is a puzzle that complicates the search for a way to stop Weizmann killing again.

The killings of Ray Baker and Fellows Ngcube, and the attack on Lionel Bensch's home, were only the beginning. Before long there was a steady stream of murders. Activists, trade unionists, lovers of freedom, do-gooders who did not realise how soon they were going to die: all government opponents. When prison psychologist Yudel Gordon is offered a substantial sum to conduct an investigation privately for a group of political activists, he does not agree immediately. To undertake something of this sort is against departmental regulations and could be a firing offence. On the other hand in his view none of the victims of these attacks is guilty of anything more than disagreeing with the way the country is run. The information he receives is vague. Is one group responsible for the killings, or are they unconnected? It is possible that the extreme rightwing Afrikaner Revival Movement is involved. But, more chillingly, could the murderers be found within the country's security police? Following a trail of death across South Africa, Yudel slowly edges closer to the truth . . .  and earns himself some very powerful enemies, including the sinister Colonel Wheelwright.

Abigail Bukula was fifteen years old when her parents were killed in a massacre of anti-apartheid activists by white apartheid security forces. Because a young soldier spoke up in her defense, she was spared.   Now she's a lawyer with a promising career in the new government, and while she has done her best to put the tragedy behind her, she's never forgotten Leon Lourens, the soldier who saved her life. So when he walks into her office almost twenty years later, needing her help, she vows to do whatever she can.  Someone is slowly killing off members of the team who raided the house where her parents were murdered, and now Leon and an imprisoned colonel are the only targets left.   Abigail turns to Yudel Gordon, an eccentric, nearly retired white prison psychologist for help. To save Leon's life they must untangle the web of politics, identity, and history before the anniversary of the raid—only days away.