Reason read: South African crime writer
This was a new to me author. I don't read a lot of crime/detective books but this was alright. I think the author did a pretty good job dealing with South African culture. This book was written in the seventies so I would guess much has changed since it was written. Over all it was good, i had some trouble with the story line. I think there was two things happening but the main thing was figuring out how the girl and her snake died and why. I learned about pythons too. If you like detective/crime fiction you might like this. ( )

South Africa during the apartheid era is beautifully portrayed in this novel. The mystery genre is one in which all aspects of society can be examined and included in an interesting story. In SNAKE, one of the crimes being investigated by the team of Afrikaaner Kramer and Bantu Zondi involves the white population with clues leading to members of the higher social classes. The second set of crimes being investigated by these two men in falls in the poorer sections of town and what they often referred to as the nonwhites which includes people from Greece and Portugal and India.

James McClure does a good job of highlighting many of the injustices and iniquities of the time and in his subtle way suggests how many of the prejudiced notions were hogwash, while at the same time shows examples of the strengths of the different cultures. Nonetheless there's definitely an excellent sense of time and place in the 1960s in South Africa. ( )

Rather confusing S. African dual crime novel--Kramer and Zondi are a good two-tone crime team, but this novel is two elliptical ( )

An exotic dancer is strangled by her own python, Kramer and Zondi - McClure's detective duo - are on the case in Trekkersburg a small town in South Africa. Written during the bad old days before apartheid was overturned, these books provide a detailed portrait of a time now consigned to the past. Excellent reading for any Crime fan. ( )