Black Cloud Rider

About the Book

Like an unborn baby, she lay there, eyes shut tight in the amniotic-like fluid as a lone, undulating voice started singing a haunting but soothing lullaby. Against the backdrop of a breathtaking and timeless corner of Botswana, a serial killer is on the loose; someone or something is beheading bar girls. The first victim is Sergeant Duski Lôcha’s wayward twin sister, Pinki Lôcha. The killer is now after her daughter, five-year-old Flora, the only possible witness to her murder. Disregarding her allegiance to the Zion Christian Church, Duski must turn once more to the dark side for help. To track down her sister’s killer and to protect Flora, she must enter the killer’s world—the dark, surreal, and ominous world of voodoo, putting not only her life at risk but her sanity too.

About the Author

Betty Keletso Knight (née Thamagana) was born in Lentswe-le-Moriti, a picturesque privately owned religious village in the Tuli Block and a popular tourist destination in eastern Botswana. Her father was one of the village pastors who spent weekdays in Selibe-Phikwe, a mining town where he ran a taxi business, while her mother taught at the local primary school. Betty spent time in both the village and the mining town and later went to a boarding school in Tonota village, where she completed her secondary education. Betty undertook a year’s national service before joining the Botswana Police Service, and after successfully completing training, she was posted to Central Police Station in Gaborone. After two years of beat patrols and shift work, she was transferred to the Special Support Group and was attached to the Botswana Police band, where she played the saxophone and flute in the marching band and performed backing vocals in the dance band. After five years of service, Betty resigned from the police service at the rank of sergeant to retrain as an English teacher. She studied both English and music at Molepolole College of Education, where she met her husband-to-be, who was a lecturer at the college. After graduating with a diploma in secondary education, they both moved to Gabane (on the outskirts of Gaborone), where she got her first English teaching post at Nare Sereto Junior Community School. In 1998, Betty moved to England with her husband and settled in Alton, Hampshire. Four years later, she went on to study English at Winchester University and subsequently went on to study for a master’s degree in contemporary English literature, which she successfully completed in 2007. Teaching English and writing crime fiction now takes up most her time, but she periodically revisits Botswana to see family and friends.