All Come to Dust

by Bryony Rheam

Bryony Rheam’s All Come to Dust won the Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction Award at the 2021 Bulawayo Arts Awards.

Marcia Pullman has been found dead at home in the leafy suburbs of
Bulawayo. Chief Inspector Edmund Dube is onto the case at once, but it
becomes increasingly clear that there are those, including the dead
woman’s husband, who do not want king questions. The case drags Edmund
back into his childhood to when his mother’s employers disappeared one
day and were never heard from again; an incident that has shadowed his
life. As his investigation into the death progresses, Edmund realises
the two mysteries are inextricably linked and that unravelling the past
is a dangerous undertaking, threatening his very sense of self.

You can read and watch interviews with Byrony below:

Interview on Mosi oa Tunya Review
Interview on Writers on Reading with Penarth Sounds
Interview at UK launch of All Come to Dust
Interview with Bindu Books
Bryony Rheam on Writing, All Come to Dust and Agatha Christie

£23.00

About the author

Bryony Rheam

Bryony Rheam is a
Zimbabwean who lives in the second city of Bulawayo with her partner and
two daughters. She has had short stories published in many anthologies
and her first novel This September Sun won critical acclaim and topped
the UK Amazon chart. It was chosen as the Best First Book at the
Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association Awards and selected as a set text
for ‘A’ level Literature in English in Zimbabwe. Bryony was one of the
five Africans chosen for a Morland scholarship in 2018. An Agatha
Christie enthusiast, she is a winner of the international Write Your Own
Christie competition. Rheam’s detective story, ALL COME TO DUST, was chosen as one of ten top African thrillers in Publishers Weekly, who described it as a “stunning crime debut.” Read an interview with Bryony Rheam here.

Review

“The beauty of All Come To Dust is its refusal to be called one thing. It’s complicated, just like life. We follow flawed, authentic characters as they navigate their changing world and acknowledge that the past, buried or not, always nips on the present’s heels.”

Yejide Kilanko, author, Daughters Who Walk This Path.’

‘All Come to Dust is an intriguing, twisting murder mystery, a witty combination of old-fashioned detective story and keenly-observed portrait of life in suburban Bulawayo. In DCI Edmund Dube, Bryony Rheam has created a fictional detective as memorable as Hercule Poirot.’

Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

‘Murdered white people are problematic for detectives across the continent—they’re harder for law enforcement to ignore. In this stunning crime debut, Chief Inspector Edmund Dube must investigate the murder of Marcia Pullman, which dredges up a mystery from his own childhood. Interwoven into the narrative is the story of a nation that has lost its way. Agatha Christie readers will love this book, and that’s not just because Rheam won the “Write Your Own Christie” competition in 2015.’ –

T.L. Huchu, 10 Thrilling African Noir Novels, Publishers Weekly

‘Initially assuming that All Come to Dust was a straightforward murder mystery, I was impressed to find that actually Rheam is doing something much more intricate and important here. Rather than a No 1 Ladies Detective Agency-style southern African romp of a mystery novel, All Come to Dust instead grapples with difficult issues of colonialism, racism, mental health and memory. The insights into the lives of the remaining white population of Zimbabwe were fascinating while clear-eyed: the reader is encouraged to sympathise with certain of them, but also reminded of their privilege. Highly recommended.’

Netgalley review

“The best detective novels are page turners, with the reader drawn into a relationship with all the characters. In All Come to Dust, DCI Edmund Dube, for all his failings, is someone we admire and feel close to. If Rheam continues the series, and allows him to pursue his career, DCI Dube could become one of crime fiction’s detective greats.”

The Financial Gazette, Zimbabwe