Irna van Zyl

Kwaaiwater

PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 2023 | PUBLISHER: HUMAN & ROUSSEAU

Warrant Officer Storm van der Merwe is back at the job, even if she's still mourning her father's death two years ago. Hermanus is hosting a book festival, and it's Storm's rather dull responsibility to ensure that Covid protocols are adhered to.

But then the village's star writer, Isa du Bois, doesn't pitch for her event. And a few hours later, her body is discovered in the Mossel River close to Kwaaiwater. 24 hours later a fisherman discovers another body - another female, but this time she's young and black. And then there's a third victim – a well-known busy bee in town.

Three days, three dead women. Why three, and why these three? Storm is so overwhelmed with finding the killer, she's even relieved ex-colleague Andreas Moerdyk keeps pestering her to assist in the case. And without really wanting to admit it, she's actually enjoying working side by side with him again.

A riveting new crime novel by the best-seller author of Moordvis, Gifbeker and Bloedsteen.

Kwaaiwater is currently only available in Afrikaans.

One Fine Day

PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 2021 | PUBLISHER: PENGUIN

When Louw Roodt vanishes after a work function, Kristien Liebenberg’s worst fear comes true: her partner isn’t coming home. Has Louw been in an accident? Is she having an affair? Has she been hijacked, assaulted, or worse, left for dead in the bushes and sand dunes of the Cape Flats? Or has it got something to do with their argument that morning?

Then news breaks of a murdered man found in a Cape hotel – the same hotel in the Waterfront Louw was last seen in, on the same night. And it’s the very man who was the speaker at her work that day. Was Louw somehow involved in the murder and is she now on the run? That’s what the police think. Or is there a connection to her mother’s hijacking 21 years ago, an event which left Louw psychologically scarred?

Amid all these questions and a rising sense of dread, Kristien knows Louw is in trouble, and she needs her help.

Blood Stone

PUBLISHED: MARCH 2020 | PUBLISHER: PENGUIN

All hell breaks loose when Detective Storm van der Merwe’s mom is pushed under a train at Paddington Station. Storm has to rush to London, even though she’s in the middle of a murder investigation: leading South African fashion designer Beebee Bukelwa Babu was found dead in a luxury Hermanus hotel.

Storm soon realises that her mom was a deliberate target. And she is one too. Meanwhile Storm’s former colleague, the bumbling Andreas Moerdyk, now a PI, is trying very hard to locate a missing and very valuable red diamond. From the murky streets of London to the diamond bourse in Antwerp, from secluded Port Nolloth to Storm’s beloved Hermanus, Irna van Zyl’s third crime novel unfolds at a heart-stopping pace.

Death Cup

PUBLISHED: MARCH 2018 | PUBLISHER: PENGUIN

When a notorious food blogger drops dead in a fancy Hermanus restaurant right in front of Detective Storm van der Merwe, Storm finds herself at the centre of a rotten mess: the blogger’s killer meal was laced with death cups, a mushroom more poisonous than even her most toxic restaurant review.

But sniffing out the murderer is not Storm’s only task: she has to put up former colleague Andreas Moerdyk when he quits his job, and to top it all her darling dog is missing.

Amid frantic preparations for a glitzy awards ceremony to honour the best chefs in the country, the killer strikes again – and again. Storm needs to act before yet another deadly dish is served.

Dead In The Water

PUBLISHED: JULY 2016 | PUBLISHER: PENGUIN

Detective Storm van der Merwe is walking her dog on the beach when she makes a gruesome discovery: the body of a young journalist – missing a limb.

For the residents of Grootbaai, corpses are bad for business: thousands of tourists from all over the world flock to this coastal town to shark-cage dive with its famous great whites.

Storm is desperate to investigate the matter, but she’s been banished from the field to a dreary back office. She’s also carless after a tow-truck driver – an attractive one at that – crashed his truck into her Beetle.

Meanwhile, in Cape Town, Storm’s former colleague Andreas Moerdyk is having problems of his own while investigating the death of a famous Springbok rugby player whose car was also hit by a tow truck.

Is Storm’s car accident in some way related to the sports star’s fatal collision? And is there a link between the journalist’s death and stories of abalone poaching in Grootbaai?

As Storm searches for answers, she realises that everyone’s a suspect and the stakes are deadly.