Deon Meyer
BOOKS
THE ULTIMATE CRIME-FIGHTING BROMANCE“ I never intended to write a series,” admits Meyer. His agents and overseas publishers, however, started pressing him for one. But who would be the right character for it? Enter Benny Griessel.“ He had been a minor character in Dead Before Dying, but I knew I wanted to write one more book featuring him. That became Devil’ s Peak.”
Meyer soon realised Benny was the right character to take forward.“ He’ s complex, and his story wasn’ t finished. I could see a much longer journey as he gradually came to terms with his alcoholism, divorce and problems at work. He’ s also a great detective.”
His partner Vaughn Cupido also came about almost by chance.“ He was a minor character in Devil’ s Peak. He developed over time into Benny’ s alter ego, and their relationship grew. They’ re very much the yin and yang of the books, and their differences multiplied my creative options. I love their dynamic. It was partly chance and partly deliberate thought about how to make a series work.”
As detectives, their approaches differ.“ Benny is methodical, while Vaughn is instinctive.” They also come from different backgrounds.“ Vaughn grew up in Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats, while Benny comes from Parow, a blue-collar neighbourhood. Benny is a white Afrikaner, while Vaughn is a man of colour from Mitchells Plain, so they have very different perspectives on the country, the Western Cape, poverty, and wealth.”
Those differences are part of what makes the partnership work.“ Together they make a terrific crime-solving team because of the contrasting aspects of their personalities.”
In Scorpio Rising, the detectives are investigating two very different cases. Benny looks into the death of a private investigator crushed beneath a car in his garage. Vaughn, meanwhile, is frustrated by an arson investigation that he considers beneath his abilities. When a caravan explodes on a nearby wine farm, the stakes rise dramatically and the investigations begin to converge.
BRINGING BLOOD SAFARI TO LIFE Invisible, the M-Net adaptation of Blood Safari, brought a different set of creative decisions. When Meyer was approached about adapting the novel, the team had to decide whether to retain its original setting in the mid-to-late 2000s or bring the story into the present.
“ Their differences multiplied my creative options. I love their dynamic.”
Updating it proved relatively easy.“ We didn’ t have to change all that much, and echoes of the original intrigue remain.”
Casting British actor Dougray Scott as the villain also gave the team an opportunity to flesh out the role.“ I’ m proud of what the team has achieved, and I think people will love it.”
Another of Meyer’ s novels, Fever, could reach our screens next. Set after a deadly virus wipes out most of humanity, it follows father and son Willem and Nico Storm as they navigate a barren South Africa and help establish a new community.
“ I’ ve written three episodes, but now we need to find the financing,” Meyer says.“ It’ s one of the books I most enjoyed writing, and I’ m very proud of it. The challenge will be making a TV series that does the book justice, and that’ s a big challenge.”
WHAT’ S NEXT? Meyer has also finished a new standalone novel, Die Veldwagter, which is expected in March 2027 with the English version, The Gamekeeper following in August 2027.“ It’ s something completely different. It follows a young man who becomes a gamekeeper at an early age, eventually moving into anti-poaching work. It’ s an action-packed love story.”
Another Benny and Vaughn novel is expected in time for Christmas 2027. Between returning to familiar characters and taking on new stories and screen projects, Meyer continues to find challenges in his work.
“ But that’ s what life is about: challenging yourself.” IB
NOVEMBER 2026 / INBOUND SA 15