Meshack Masondo (? – 2013) was born and raised in the small, rural village of Nqutu in KwaZulu Natal. He went to high school in the township of Umlazi at Swelihle Senior Secondary. After completing his matric he relocated to Johannesburg to seek employment. He was an established publishing manager at Macmillan Publishers and was recognised as the country’s most prominent writer of Zulu crime novels. During his life, Masondo was, in fact, one of only two authors of detective novelists that wrote in the Zulu language.