''Riotous Assembly'' is the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to ...

of British comic writer Tom Sharpe, written and originally published in 1971. Set in the fictitious South African town of Piemburg, ''Riotous Assembly'' lampoons South African

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, and the police who enforced it.

Plot summary

Kommandant van Heerden, who has risen to Chief of Police of Piemburg through his family connection with a 'hero' of Boer republicanism rather than merit, is called out to deal with a strange murder case involving the eccentric British spinster, Miss Hazelstone. It appears that Miss Hazelstone has obliterated her black cook 'Fivepence' with a quadruple-barreled elephant gun. A paradoxical anglophile, van Heerden is initially willing to brush the incident under the carpet, until Miss Hazelstone reveals that she and the cook were former lovers (an offence under the Immorality Act) sharing a penchant for transvestism and rubber fetishism. In his panic to stop the truth getting out, van Heerden places Miss Hazelstone under house arrest, calling in all reinforcements available in order to quarantine the area and places his assistant, the profoundly stupid and bloodthirsty Konstabel Els, on guard, carrying the same elephant gun. The chaos that follows turns a potentially sensitive political scandal into a full-blown catastrophe, one that van Heerden, his deputy Lieutenant Verkramp and Els must resolve to uphold the 'honour' of Piemburg and apartheid.

References

South African comedy novels Novels by Tom Sharpe 1971 debut novels Apartheid novels Secker & Warburg books 1971 British novels {{SouthAfrica-novel-stub