Van Zyl, who has had an illustrious 30-year career in media, recently stepped down as an executive director at New Media Publishing. Van Zyl co-founded the publishing company which now publishes amongst others
Woolworths Taste,
Visi,
Golf Digest,
Finweek and
Eat Out.
In 1985 she was appointed as chief sub-editor at
Die Burger, the first woman to occupy the position, and she has worked as editor for Afrikaans magazines
De Kat and
Insig. She made her writing debut in 1995 with a collection of short stories,
Grootmensspeletjies.
Van Zyl’s thriller is set on the coast near Hermanus in the fictitious town of Grootbaai, shark-cage-diving capital of the world, and features oddball detective Storm van der Merwe. Storm drives a beetle, she’s stocky and smart and she is thrown into the deep end when a body minus an arm washes up on the beach. It doesn’t take her long to realise that the situation at Grootbaai is even more dangerous than shark-cage diving – minus the cage.
Fourie Botha, publisher of local fiction at Penguin Random House, says, “We’re all hugely excited to publish Irna van Zyl’s wonderful thriller and to introduce readers to a new heroine in crime fiction: Storm van der Merwe.”
For more information, visit the
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