Malla Nunn was born in Swaziland, South Africa, and currently lives in Sydney, Australia. She is a filmmaker with three award-winning films to her credit, as well as the author of the Emmanuel Cooper crime series, When the Ground Is Hard, and Sugar Town Queens.

From award-winning author and filmmaker Malla Nunn, a collection of three riveting crime novels set in 1950s apartheid South Africa.

A Beautiful Place to Die
A stunning and darkly romantic crime novel set in 1950s apartheid South Africa, featuring Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper?a man caught up in a time and place where racial tensions and the raw hunger for power make life very dangerous indeed.

Let the Dead Lie
When a young boy is brutally murdered, Detective Cooper is forced out of the shadows and back into service, eluding the Afrikaner police as he conducts his own covert investigation. As the murders continue to pile up, with Cooper perilously close to the scenes, he becomes the police department's prime suspect.

Blessed Are the Dead
Detective Cooper returns in this powerful, atmospheric novel about two communities forced to confront each other after a murder that exposes their secret ties and forbidden desires in apartheid South Africa.