Die Lang Generaal – Die Duistere Politieke Sluipmoorde van die Ou Suid-Afrika (Signed) by Alan D. Elsdon

Die Lang Generaal – Die Duistere Politieke Sluipmoorde van die Ou Suid-Afrika is the Afrikaans edition of Alan D. Elsdon’s political thriller, translated from the English by Anne-Marié Mischke. First published by Umuzi in 2009, this copy is the second edition, issued by the author himself in 2010. It is signed by Alan D. Elsdon in ink on the title page.

The book is a work of fiction built on historical facts and events. At the centre of Die Lang Generaal is General Hendrik van den Bergh, known as “Lang Hendrik”, former head of the Security Police and later of the Bureau for State Security (BOSS), a man feared at home and respected among Cold War intelligence services abroad. Elsdon links him to a series of sensational deaths still surrounded by unanswered questions, including the assassination of Dr H. F. Verwoerd, the deaths of State President Nico Diederichs and Steve Biko, and the killings of Anton Lubowski and the theologian Professor Johan Heyns.

One of the most chilling cases explored is the 1977 murder of National Party candidate Dr Robert Smit and his wife, and the author offers his own explanation of the mysterious words “RAU TEM” left at the scene.

Alan D. Elsdon joined the South African Police in 1973 and served as a cryptographer in the Security Branch from 1978 before leaving the police in 1993. His insider background gives Die Lang Generaal its edge. The book was praised in Rapport and by the historian Professor Ockie Geyser. The English edition was published as The Tall Assassin.

Die Lang Generaal is a strong choice for readers of Afrikaans fiction, South African political history and true-crime thrillers, and for collectors of signed South African books.

Condition – Near Fine to Fine

A bright, clean copy of the 2010 Die Lang Generaal paperback, signed by the author in ink on the title page. The covers and spine are in near fine to fine, like new condition. There are no notable defects.