In each, he takes a foreign culture and explores the nature of story and the power of stories to create identities. At its best, his writing is lyrical about the nature of humanity, and yet still sufficiently entertaining to count as an "easy read." "Musungu Jim" envisages a coup triggered off by a hapless gap year student in an African dictatorship not unlike Mugabe's Zimbabwe. "Twelve Bar Blues" interweaves various characters but focusses chiefly on Lick Holden, a semi-mythical horn player, not unlike the legendary Buddy Bolden.