Omoseye Bolaji and the African Detective Genre
Omoseye Bolaji and the African Detective Genre
Omoseye Bolaji and the African Detective Genre
By Raphael Mokoena
Omoseye Bolaji, the creator of the Tebogo Mystery series, is often asked how he churns out the twists and turns in the intriguing plots in the adventures of Tebogo Mokoena, the sleuth protagonist of his books.
But the Nigerian-born Omoseye shrugs off this question with a smile.
"I really don't know!" he said.
"Or simplistically, let's just say the inspiration for the books just come and go intermittently."
A key to Bolaji's creativity is perhaps the fact that he began reading mystery novels in his childhood.
"I suppose it was the golden age of reading for leisure in West Africa at the time. In the late 70s and 80s, I loved authors like Peter Cheyney, Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Dick Francis, and Sidney Sheldon"
In 2000 Omoseye Bolaji, then based in Free State in South Africa (his base) published the first in the Tebogo Mystery series entitled Tebogo Investigates, and was surprised at the book's success.
"The book is about the strange case of a comfortable young man being killed in his own house during a party, [but], now I feel that the book is tawdry and nowhere near good enough...but strangely enough, many people still claim they love it so much," said Bolaji
The second, Tebogo's Spot of Bother (2001) is probably the most interesting produced by the author, with its double twist ending.
"It seems I managed to pull off a really gripping finale, but I won't say it's the best book in the series, or my favorite."
In 2003 the third adventure of Tebogo Mokoena was published, Tebogo Fails unfolds with hints of the romantic, though, ironically, the details of the murder scenes in this psychology thriller are rather gory. The author's leniency for the villain's fate even baffled and irritated readers, but Bolaji is unrepentant.
"The killer goes scot-free, and it happened yet again in Tebogo and the Haka," Bolaji said grinning.
Ask Tebogo (2004) is generally dubbed the weakest of the books, but upon re-reading it recently I was surprised to see that it is actually a powerful story despite the controversial "essays" placed throughout the text. The book certainly has a fair number of twists and turns and one gets the impression that the protagonist, though in a more sober mood, continues to enjoy the ambience of the underworld (a feature in the series)
Bolaji will not comment on Ask Tebogo, though he admits that Tebogo and the Haka (2008) is his favorite in the series.
"Yes I love the book. In 2005 I was very very sick and should have died really, [but], little by little, I became better, and some inspiration came back a bit after a few years".
Tebogo and the Haka was followed by Tebogo and the Epithalamion (2009) and Tebogo and the Pantophagist (2010). The last two adventures being unique in the genre in the sense that no one is actually killed.
In Tebogo and the Epithalamion a beguiling young lady disappears and Tebogo manages to track her down in the end.
Meanwhile in Tebogo and the Pantophagist, Tebogo meets a quirky "scientist" and the plot focuses on a certain "formula" for making humans disappear!
Many essays published on the Tebogo Mystery books, including a full-length study by critic Petro Schonfeld, titled Tebogo on the Prowl (First Edition, 2006).
In her "Overview" of the Tebogo Mystery series, Petro identifies the following, inter alia: as contributing to the success of the books: friction and suspicion amongst characters; seemingly insignificant details/facts; [Bolaji's] portrayal of his characters, style (the narrator's use of colloquial lingo); humor, and imagery.
Bolaji has garnered a lot of reverence and fame as a result of the success of the series, after all the genre is exceedingly rare in the landscape of black African writing. Amongst the many honors he has received, theone that excites him the most is when he was made a Chief in Ibadan, Nigeriahis country of birth.
"That was a wonderful occasion with its transcendental pomp and pageantry that will always be etched in my memory. But I still maintain that the satisfaction of an author mainly lies with readers enjoying their work." Omoseye was also conferred with the Chancellor's Medal by the University of the Free State in 2007.
Certainly, many readers continue to enjoy the fiction churned out by Omoseye Bolaji over the years. Apart from the seven books in the Tebogo Mystery series, he has also published three other novels: Impossible Love (2000), The Ghostly Adversary (2001) and People of the Townships (2003). And all three works share one thing in common, unexpected and sensational endings.
Impossible Love is essentially a love story: the Ghostly Adversary is a taut thriller; whilst People of the Townships was described as "breathless, picaresque, surprisingly funny" by Aryan Kaganof, the white South African movie producer and prolific author.
Bolaji has also published many other books comprising different genres, which include drama, poetry, criticism, and biography.
When asked when readers should another installment of Tebogo Mokoena's adventures, Bolaji responds candidly:
"At the moment I have no inspiration at all. Let me just bask in the emergence of a crop of new young writers in the Free State, like Hector Kunene, Jah Rose and Teboho Masakala!"
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