Lynne Lewis: West Africa Murder Mysteries

by Rosemary Yaco
About the Author:

Rosemary Yaco spent her early years in Michigan and earned a Ph. D. in American Culture and won a Hopwood award for poetry at the University of Michigan.  She worked in Africa from 1983 to 1996, first, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, then as a Fulbright professor, and then, for seven years, as Director of the English Language Program at the United States Information Agency American Cultural Center in French speaking Cotonou, Benin. She now lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Murder in the Peace Corps

Lynne Lewis, in the Peace Corps, is stationed in the far north of Togo. Four violent deaths of Americans occur. In a period of near revolution, in a country with twenty languages and a strong belief in voodoo, Lynne uses her knowledge of the volunteers and her growing understanding of West Africa to help Inspector McDuff, a temporary State Department official, to discover the murderer

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Lynne Lewis is appointed Fulbright Professor at the University of Togo. Almost immediately, she finds evidence of a bloody murder on the run-down campus. There is increasing instability as the country tries to gain democracy and depose the long term dictator. Lynne helps the US State Department sort through the eccentric group of Americans at the university and several perhaps sinister Africans to solve the violent deaths of two colleagues

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Cotonou Means
Death: Murder at the American Cultural Center

When Lynne Lewis left Togo during violent political unrest, she hoped for a safer life in Benin.. But danger erupts as soon as she crosses the border. A threatening encounter at the checkpoint turns deadly as a man is shot in a confusing gun battle. Lynne arrives in Cotonou for her new job at the American Cultural Center and works to establish an English Language Program while helping Inspector Mc Duff find the surprising malignant force behind the violence in the American community of Benin.

Murder at a Small Embassy: Evil in Benin

Lynne Lewis has married her long-time lover, Everett, the Economic officer at the State Department in Benin. However, the joy of her recent marriage is darkened by the murders of three Americans. The crimes seem somehow related to voodoo witchcraft in the Embassy itself. Then gorgeous Daphne, a State Department consultant, appears. Soon murderous rivalries, sexual and political, are revealed. Lynne realizes she is in personal danger until the killer is found. Oddly,her fascination with Africa’s beautiful fabrics helps her solve the mysteries.