He lied to his wife about where he was going. By the end of the weekend, he was a murder suspect.
James Kenge tells his wife, Sandra, that he is going to Naivasha for a three-day work assignment. Instead, he boards the SGR train to Mombasa with Esther, a woman he has known online for three months.
Kenge and Esther are looking forward to a weekend together in Nyali. But after an argument, Kenge leaves their Airbnb apartment to cool down. When he returns later that night, Esther is dead, a kitchen knife lying on her body.
Kenge has a great deal to explain. He lied to his wife, kept the affair secret and was the last known person to be with Esther before her death. The police have reason to suspect him, and his arrest exposes his private life to public scrutiny.
Back in Nairobi, Sandra must confront the consequences of her husband's betrayal. His actions have put their family, their finances and the life she has worked hard to build at risk. She has no intention of forgiving him simply because he may be innocent of murder. But neither does she want to accept an answer without knowing the facts.
She hires private investigator Ben Chale to examine the case independently. As Ben investigates Esther's final hours, he encounters unanswered questions, conflicting accounts and people whose connections to the dead woman deserve closer attention.
Did Kenge commit murder, or has the investigation overlooked something that changes everything?
1st Day of Forty is a crime thriller about infidelity, murder and the search for the truth behind a death that changes several lives.