The Headhunter's Daughter: A Mystery

Tamar Myers returns to Africa in The Headhunter’s Daughter, the second book in her wonderful mystery series set in the Belgian Congo in the mid-twentieth century—a riveting and atmospheric follow-up to The Witchdoctor’s Wife. Raised in the Congo herself, the child of missionaries, Myers uses her intimate knowledge of the people, the culture, and the landscape to add richness to this stunning story of an abandoned infant raised by a tribe of headhunters—a masterful mystery that fans of Alexander McCall Smith and The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency will adore. |

From Tamar Myers, author of The Witch Doctor's Wife, comes a spellbinding tale of equatorial Africa and a child torn dangerously between two worlds.

In 1945, an infant left inadvertently to die in the jungles of the Belgian Congo is discovered by a young Bashilele tribesman on a mission to claim the head of an enemy. Recognized as human—despite her pale white skin and strange blue eyes—the baby is brought into the tribe and raised as its own. Thirteen years later, the girl—now called "Ugly Eyes"—will find herself at the center of a controversy that will rock two separate societies.

Young missionary Amanda Brown hears the incredible stories of a white girl living among the Bashilele headhunters. In the company of the local police chief, Captain Pierre Jardin, and with the witch doctor's wife, the quick-witted Cripple, along as translator, Amanda heads into the wild hoping to bring the lost girl back to "civilization." But Ugly Eyes no longer belongs in their world—and the secrets surrounding her birth and disappearance are placing them all in far graver peril than anyone ever imagined.

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“Myers draws on her own experiences as the daughters of white missionaries living in the Belgian Congo for this dazzling novel full of authentic African lore....This marks a major breakthrough for Myers as she displays storytelling skills...” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Witch Doctor's Wife

“Who do you read after Sue Grafton or Margaret Maron or Patricia Cornwell?...Tamar Myers!” - Greensboro News & Record

“Only an author with an intimate knowledge of the Congo—its people, landscape, and culture—could write a novel with such confidence and authority. This is a lush novel, rich with tension and intricately woven, believable characters. Myers clearly loves the Congo—and you will love this book. I did!” - Mary Alice Monroe, on The Glass is Always Greener

“Tamar Myers’ mesmerizing novel of mid-twentieth century Congo plumbs passion, despair, and courage. The Witch Doctor’s Wife will long linger in the hearts and minds of readers. Authentic. Powerful. Triumphant.” - Carolyn Hart, on The Witch Doctor's Wife