Delving into the literary output of master crime novelist Deon Meyer with a new novel out

And, so, is the popularity of Meyer’s crime novels. In a country that struggles to embrace the written word when it comes to reading for pleasure, particularly fiction, Meyer has defied that limitation, selling novels in bucket loads over the years.

By Edward Tsumele, winner of the NHC Heritage Journalism Award 2026

He has an extraordinary gift of living off crime, without actually committing it himself. Actually the crime exists in our heads as we follow the shenanigans of his characters, and the sticky situation they entangled themselves in and their attempts to wiggle themselves out of the mess.

Deon Meyer is one writer who can claim without any fear of contradiction that he is living off the stories he tells. Stories that he creates and the crimes they create that we follow. Love and hate. They occupy our minds as we delve deeply into their lives. Lives and situations that have been created by the master story teller and wordsmith, one of the most successful, actually arguably the most successful fiction writer in South Africa alive today.

Deon Meyer has clearly defined a solid path in crime fiction to an extent that it is hard to think of any crime writer alive today, without thinking of this Stellenbosch-based South African writer.

Writing originally mainly in Afrikaans, his mother tongue, and then translating his books into English and having them translated into several other languages around the world, not even the temptation to suggest that his success in South Africa is mainly because he has a captive audience, based on shared culture, that is Afrikaans, is enough to explain why his books are such a commercial success. Of course writing in Afrikaans and writing well for an audience that is passionate about their language, is part of his success. But that is not the only reason, for that would be akin to suggesting that the South African genre of maskandi music, is today a popular genre simply because of the fact that most musicians who create songs and perform the maskandi genre have mainly Zulu roots.  That is also true, but that is not the whole story of explaining why that genre is popular. Its popularity cuts across diverse South African cultures, with fans of the genre spread around all South Africa’s nine provinces.

And so is the popularity of Meyer’s crime novels. In a country that struggles to embrace the written word when it comes to reading for pleasure, particularly fiction, Meyer has defied that limitation, selling novels in bucket loads over the years. The writer has been successful  to the extent that each book he releases becomes a best seller, in the true sense of what a best seller in international standards is, and not only by the low South African standard.

And his success cannot be simply explained by the fact that in real life, South Africa struggles in nipping the pandemic of crime in the bud, as it is wide spread, particularly violent crime. His novels find emotional and intellectual connection with readers from around the globe besides South Africa.

Here are the hard facts about Meyer’s novels and their phenomenal popularity. He has published seventeen novels and two short story collections. His books are published in 28 languages in more than 40 countries worldwide. He has received numerous local and international accolades.

His literary and intellectual output, however straddles, novels, TV and the big screen. He has written to date, several series for television and four screen plays for feature films, as well as producing and directing movies in Afrikaans.

Those who enjoy his novels, have every reason to rejoice this month. Meyer has just released his latest book this October titled Scorpio Rising.

In a letter released with the new book, addressing his thousands of his readers, he says: “It is a pleasure and a privilege to present Scorpio Rising, the tenth instalment of the Benny Griessel crime fiction franchise. But to be honest, for me it really has become the Benny Griessel and Vaughan Cupido series ever since the bromance properly took off in 2014 with Corbra……

“Scoprpio Rising’s research was perhaps the most stringent I have ever had to do for a novel. Forensic toxicology and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry testing have developed dramatically in the recent past. Similarly, drone technology and AI.  Both the good guys and the bad guys have a lot of new access up their sleeves.

And the biggest challenges was to present it all in a palatable, suspenseful package. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.”

There you heard all from the master story teller himself.

Scorpio Rising is published by Pan MacMillan South Africa.