Springgety
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Springgety by Chanette Paul

Titel: Springgety
Language: Afrikaans
Author: Chanette Paul
Pages: 558
ISBN: 9780799338775
Category: Suspense Novel
Publishing date: October 2007
Publisher: Lapa Publishers

Chanette Paul’s thirtieth novel, Springgety, heralded a new writing phase in which she tests the waters of suspense fiction.

Kruisbaai, the isolated seaside village at the end of sixty kilometers of treacherous dirt road, gives Detective Gys Niemand the creeps.
Especially Leap Rock, the cliff that towers over the moody sea - a greedy piece of rock if the four crosses planted on top for those who fell to their death, is anything to go by.

Lily Reynecke knows practically nothing about Kruisbaai when she inherits her aunt’s odd beach cottage, called the Sea Wife. Recently released from a funny farm after her miserable childhood, her divorce and her aunt’s tragic death had proved to be too much for her, the Sea Wife is Lily’s only refuge.
Stories abound in Kruisbaai and soon it becomes apparent that Lily’s aunt, Maja, had played no mean role in the past of the village. However, Lily scarcely has enough time to get to know Kruisbaai’s history and its inhabitants before her ex-husband, Fritz, arrives. Shortly after their fiery exchange, Fritz disappears and Lily becomes the prime suspect.

The last thing she needs under these circumstances, is another catastrophe in her life, yet her attraction to Ben Brink, also high on the list of suspects, is bound to lead to just that.

Lily becomes the catalyst through which present day tribulations in Kruisbaai as well as the mysteries of the past eventually is unveiled, but not before she has to stare a killer in the eye on top of Leap Rock.

With its fascinating storyline and interesting characters, Springgety yields enough twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages right to the end.
Springgety is the first novel in a planned pentad of which the second novel, Fortuin, was published in October 2008 and the third, Boheem, in July 2009. The fourth, Meetsnoer , is scheduled for publication in October 2010.

The five novels will eventually form an integrated whole in which the legend of the mermaid of Kruisbaai, a recurring theme in the series, as well as Detective Gys Niemand’s relationship with the love of his life, will be concluded.

To read the prologue and first two chapters of Leap Tide, the translation of Springgety, click here

Springgety – Extract of review by Linette van der Merwe in Pretoria News
(Chanette) Paul succeeds from the first page to the last to keep the reader guessing and surprising twists keeps the reader glued to the pages. The action takes place in Kruisbaai (Bay of crosses), where Lily Reyneke finds herself after the sudden break up of her marriage to Fritz Reyneke. The holiday home, which she inherited from her aunt Maja, is known as the Fish Wife (Fish Woman) and offers Lily the only haven after her divorce. The Fish Wife seems to be a Pandora’s box with all kinds of skeletons falling out of closets for the duration of the book. The reader almost gets the feeling of a framework within a framework – Lily and her aunt Maja’s past taking place within the framework of the events in Kruisbaai, which in turn takes place within the framework of the solving of the suicide/homicide at Springklip (a towering cliff).

It’s a page-turner, with enough intrigue, strange riddles to be solved, and interesting twists that make it difficult to put the book down. Definitely a must for those wanting to drive away the winter cold.