TAKE THE MYSTERIOUS whereabouts of a Napoleonic relic, the fact that history confirms that it was in Africa, and toss it together with the violence of KwaZulu-Natal, from the 1880s all the way up until today. Punctuate it with a cop and her boyfriend who is a turtle conservationist; a man who owns a herd of rhinoceros and sits on a genealogical tree which places him in reach of said relic, and you’ve got yourself another Tony Park whodunnit, replete with drones and crooks, explosives and hairpin bends. This is Die by the Sword, his latest publication.

It is here where you get to meet Grace (aka Preeti), who feels like a bit of an historical anachronism. She’s of Indian descent, a prostitute by trade and she feels more proactive and articulate than the grand histories of racism in this country dictate. But there lies the rub. Such is Park’s take on the historical novel that the mysteries hidden in fact sit well in his fiction. There’s American woman journalist who comes to Africa, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Louis Napoleon, ostensibly to support his bereft mum, and in the guise of being a Lady of aristocratic roots, but her truths lie elsewhere. And that American woman, Park agrees, was real.

The story paints a hopscotch series of leaps between the late 19^th century – just after the Battle of Isandlwana – and the present, in the light of rhino poaching, illegal aliens and other such crimes – in the same vicinity, often leaving you on the cliff’s edge of one story as a chapter ends, and finding you in a different present as the next, begins. And the biggest baddie of them all? Why he’s the one you’d least suspect and it pulls you back with the horror of recognition, as he’s the guy you unintentionally invested all your trust in, right from the get-go.

With some thoughtful undercurrents regarding the value – in historical, monetary or cultural terms – of an old weapon of war and where it should be housed or disposed of, the novel takes on the sexism in the contemporary police industry, the harshness of the landscape and the complexity of existing in Africa in polite western society in the 1880s, it’s a monster of a read with bits of leopard attacks, dehorned rhinos and an ancient Koran which mysteriously finds its way onto a deserted beach. And of course there is a glorious swordfight features two veteran swords forged by master crafters more than a century ago.

Cinematic in its sense of detail and beautifully popular in its skiet, skop en donder narrative, this novel is a page turner that rivals the best of Netflix series. You will want to get to the bottom of this riddle in but one sitting.

• Die by the Sword by Tony Park is published by Pan MacMillan (2025).