Pieter Haasbroek

Meiring Fouche is the pseudonym of Francois Alwyn Venter (27/11/1916 - 8/1/1997) and is one of South Africa's top writers who could write on a wide range of subjects. Other pseudonyms he used for his books were Marius de Jongh, Elske te Water, and Rene Stegman. However, under the pseudonym Meiring Fouche, he wrote most of his books and quickly achieved great success, especially with his four "trek" books: Offerland (Land of Sacrifice), Gelofte land (Land of Vow), Geknelde land (Constricted Land), and Bedoelde land (Intended Land). After the premature death of Braam le Roux, F.A. Venter took over the famous Swart Luiperd (Black Leopard) series from Braam le Roux and completed the series of seventy books. Under the pseudonym Meiring Fouche, he also wrote several other series (Pioneers series, Ryk Schoonraad series, Maiden of the Sea series, and Fabel Retief series), of which the Sahara adventure series is certainly one of his very best. He also wrote several other books in series such as the SA Police series, while a few standalone paperback books also came from his pen. In total, F.A. Venter wrote more than ninety paperback books and more than forty hardcover books. F.A. Venter also wrote several short stories. Meiring Fouche wrote six stories in the SA Police series. In short, the SA Police series is about a constable by the name of Kobus Roode. He is a strongly built man with brown hair that is always cut short, so that it looks like a crew cut. His story begins as a student when he and two of his best friends went camping in the Drakensberg. There they uncover a secret weapons arsenal and weapons factory hidden deep underground. In the process, Kobus's two friends die, but Kobus manages to apprehend the villains and so bring the organization's illegal activities to a halt. These events had such a great impact on Kobus's life that he decided there and then to dedicate himself to becoming a constable. Kobus's career advances quickly and he solves one major international case after another. He deals with kidnappers, murderers, animal smugglers, dagga (cannabis) smugglers, and many more. Most of the time he operates in Natal, but at times he is also transferred to Pretoria and Johannesburg to solve cases there that others before him could not. Many times Kobus refuses promotion because it would mean he would have to do office work. For him, there is nothing better than working in nature, on the back of a horse. It is precisely this love of his that leads him to discover villains' secret locations, surprising and exposing them. The last few books in the series are about the experiences of different constables in South Africa. There are constable Ryk Schutte's adventures in South-West Africa, constable Jurie Slabbert's drama in the Karoo, constables Reinhardt Fouche in South-West Africa, Buks Senekal in the Kalahari, Henk van Reenen in the Cederberg, and constable Kobus van Deventer's narrow escape in the Namib desert. Each of these stories is full of action, drama, suspense, and also a bit of romance in between. Every excellently written detective story captivates you from beginning to end, and the stories stay with you long after you have finished reading them.