C.M. Elliott Press Kit

Official site: https://cmelliott.com
Press contact: fruitbat@yoafrica.com

Short bio
C.M. Elliott is the author of the Detective Sibanda novels: Sibanda and the Rainbird, Sibanda and the Death's Head Moth, Sibanda and the Black Sparrow Hawk, and Sibanda and the Night Adder.

Long bio
C.M. Elliott was born in England and made her life in Zimbabwe. Years around Hwange National Park and the safari industry gave her an ear for bush roads, wildlife, practical mishaps, and the comedy of people under pressure. Those details run through the Detective Sibanda novels: murder, yes, but also weather, spoor, bureaucracy, friendship, and the long drive back to Gubu.

Series positioning
Zimbabwean literary crime fiction with DI Jabulani Sibanda, Sergeant Ncube, Miss Daisy, and cases shaped by spoor, railway lines, village politics, blood diamonds, and bush roads around Gubu and Hwange country.

Detective Sibanda books
- Book 1: Sibanda and the Rainbird | ISBN 9781472130495 | Little, Brown Book Group / Constable | 5 March 2020 | 256 pages
- Book 2: Sibanda and the Death's Head Moth | ISBN 9781472130525 | Constable / Little, Brown Book Group | 3 September 2020 | 256 pages
- Book 3: Sibanda and the Black Sparrow Hawk | ISBN 9781472130556 | Constable / Little, Brown Book Group | 21 January 2021 | 272 pages
- Book 4: Sibanda and the Night Adder | ISBN 9781914287305 | Carnelian Heart Publishing Ltd | 12 April 2023 | 286 pages

Coverage angles
- Rural Zimbabwe, Hwange country, bush roads, wildlife detail, and safari knowledge are part of the detection, not decoration.
- Sibanda investigates murder, smuggling, railway-line killings, and blood diamonds while Sergeant Ncube and Miss Daisy keep the books human.
- The series gives book clubs and journalists several clean lines of enquiry: place, policing, humour, conservation, corruption, friendship, and practical evidence.

Writing and world-building
- The Sibanda novels are built from working detail: Gubu police station, failing vehicles, bad roads, birds, spoor, lodge life, drought, official pressure, and the difficult distance between law and justice.
- Wildlife is not scenery in the series. It is often evidence, atmosphere, danger, memory, misdirection, or the thing Sibanda understands more clearly than the people around him.
- The humour stays dry because the crimes are serious. Ncube, Miss Daisy, and the absurdity of bureaucracy keep the books humane without turning murder into comfort reading.

Attributed review quotes
- "Fans of Alexander McCall Smith will love C.M. Elliott's Sibanda series." - Sunday Times (SA)
- "C.M. Elliott has created a lively cast of characters and an intricate, clever plot." - Margaret von Klemperer, The Witness
- "Elliott plots murder, diamonds and hyenas with skill, but it is the humour that runs throughout that entrances and enhances the dastardly plot." - Jenny Crwys Williams

Readers on Goodreads
- Not ordinary: "This is no ordinary murder mystery." - Lesley Shears, Goodreads. The first case is remembered for more than the corpse: bushcraft, police-station friction, and small physical clues drive the pleasure of the investigation.
- World-building: "immerses the reader into life in the African bush" - Paromjit, Goodreads. Readers notice the density of place: birds, animals, heat, lodge life, village pressure, and the political weather around Gubu.
- Prose: "Beautifully written." - Adri, Goodreads. The books depend on observation and timing as much as plot. The writing gives space to landscape, absurdity, and the odd comedy of serious work.
- Plot and character: "Interesting characters, intricate plot and very well spun story." - Phumlani, Goodreads. The second book deepens the machinery: fragments of evidence, coded names, poaching pressure, Ncube's anxieties, and Sibanda's impatience.
- Series loyalty: "Love the Sibanda books." - Sue Morris, Goodreads. By the third case, readers are returning for the company as well as the crime: Sibanda, Ncube, Miss Daisy, and Gubu itself.
- Humour and wildlife: "Full of fun and also beautiful descriptions of wildlife." - Mish Middelmann, Goodreads. The balance matters: dark crimes, comic restraint, and wildlife detail that is part of how Sibanda thinks.

Usage note
Cover art remains copyright of the relevant publishers or rightsholders. Files are supplied for press, review, bookseller, event, and author-feature use. Please keep C.M. Elliott's name and the book title visible when reproducing covers.
