Kwei Quartey

Kwei Quartey is a Ghanaian-American crime fiction writer and retired physician. He has written a series of detective novels featuring the character Detective Inspector Darko Dawson.

Kwei Quartey was born in Ghana to a Ghanaian father and an American mother, who were lecturers at the University of Ghana. Inspired by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Quartey wrote crime novellas as early as eight or nine.

During his high school years, Kwei Quartey decided to become a physician. After his father's death, Quartey moved to the United States with his mother.

Kwei Quartey attended medical school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1990, he began practicing medicine in California with HealthCare Partners. Dr. Quartey later founded the facility's wound care center while working as an urgent care physician.

Quartey made the Los Angeles Times Bestseller List in 2009 with his debut mystery novel, Wife Of The Gods, introducing Ghanaian homicide detective Inspector Darko Dawson, who is assigned to investigate the murder of a young medical student.

The following year, the G.O.G. National Book Club awarded him the title of Best Male Author.

Having published Wife of the Gods and Children of the Street, he is anticipating the release of a third novel in the series, Murder at Cape Three Points, in March 2014. Death at the Voyager Hotel, a mystery e-novella not belonging to the series, was published in August 2013.

In 2018, having practiced medicine for about 20 years while simultaneously working as a writer, Kwei Quartey retired from medical practice to become a full-time novelist.

In 2020, Quartey launched a new detective series, The Missing American, featuring the first West African female private investigator in fiction, Emma Jan.

The Missing American was a 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee for Best First PI Novel and winner of the 2021 Shamus Award.

The second in the series, Sleep Well, My Lady, was a 2022 nominee for Best Novel of 2021. The third Emma Djan novel, Last Seen In Lapaz, came out in 2023.

Dr. Quartey is also a member of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime, a fiction writers’ organization.

Kwei Quartey currently lives in Pasadena, California.

Photo credit: www.kweiquartey.com