Anansi’s Gold by Yepoka Yeebo (Bloomsbury) is one of those books you approach the way you would a Netflix true crime series. You grab your popcorn and soft drinks, sink into the comfiest spot on the couch, and prepare to lose your entire Friday night because bingeing is the only option.

The book tells the unbelievably wild tale of Dr. John Ackah Blay-Miezah—or “our man,” as he is sometimes affectionately, sometimes derisively called. Blay is one of the greatest political swindlers in modern African history.

It all begins with Blay spinning a story to Ghana’s military leader: before his death, Kwame Nkrumah had secretly stashed away heaps of cash and gold in a Swiss account—not stolen wealth, but a patriotic safeguard against corrupt political rivals. This secret fund, he claimed, was meant to be used to rebuild Ghana after Nkrumah’s passing. And conveniently, as Nkrumah’s trusted confidante, Blay was the only man who knew how to access it. All he needed was to be released from jail and given a diplomatic passport, and in return, he’d hand over $86 million—just the beginning of what was waiting in the Swiss vaults.

When I started reading, I had no idea who Blay-Miezah was. At first, his story seemed almost plausible—until it started sounding like the setup to a perfectly crafted scam email. But this was before the days of online fraud. And here he was, not emailing a desperate plea to strangers, but sitting across from Ghana’s head of state, weaving his tale. As outlandish as it seemed, he was believed. He was freed, given the passport, and let loose on the world.

From that moment, you’re hooked. You want to know everything about “our man”—his “boyishly charming face,” his good looks, his impeccable fashion, and, most of all, his trickery. You want to sit at his feet and listen, the way people have always gathered to hear yet another tale of Anansi the spider.

That connection to Anansi is one of my favorite moments in Yeebo’s book. Her argument is that figures like Blay-Miezah succeed not just because of their cunning, but because they tap into something deeper—the trickster archetype. In Ghanaian folklore, Anansi is the spider who outsmarts everyone. He weaves stories so powerful they alter reality. Yeebo writes:

“As legends have it, Anansi knew the power of stories—his stories were so good, they changed the world. If he told a story about a mountain, the next morning people would look outside and see the mountain. If he told a story about some hidden treasure, people would dive to the bottom of the sea in search of it. If he told a story about being a king, people would bring him a crown. Anansi’s stories made people feel special: like they knew a great secret or were part of an amazing adventure.”

Blay-Miezah embodied this same magic. He told stories that made people believe in fortunes, conspiracies, and possibilities beyond their reach. His words weren’t just lies; they were spells.

But people like Blay-Miezah don’t emerge from nowhere. They are a product of their environment. They thrive because they prey on existing fears, desires, desperation, and expectations. Yeebo does a brilliant job of situating Blay-Miezah’s deceit within the broader history of Ghanaian politics. She doesn’t just start with Blay-Miezah’s life; she starts with the life of Ghana itself, tracing its postcolonial struggles and the political myth-making surrounding Nkrumah.

Only then do you realize why a man like Blay-Miezah was able to con not just desperate businessmen, but heads of state, intelligence officials, and powerful investors. His lies worked because they were rooted in something real—the economic turmoil, the longing for lost national glory, the enduring legend of Nkrumah’s gold.

We need more of these kinds of stories—ones that capture the unusual and often untold aspects of African postcolonial political history. Too often, we focus only on figures who are clearly good or bad, missing the ones in between—the rule-breakers, the myth-makers, the unforgettable fraudsters.

British-Ghanaian journalist Yepoka Yeebo is quite the storyteller, channeling Anansi’s spirit. A story like this could have been told in the stilted voice of investigative journalism, but Yeebo, opts for a conspiratorial tone. Reading the book feels like sitting across the table from a dinner party guest who has everyone spell bound with a juicy story—one full of epic court trials, high-profile bribery, forgery, impersonation, and stolen identities.

For me, the biggest draw of Anansi’s Gold is its exploration of our collective fascination with so-called Great Criminals. This is why the true crime genre dominates Netflix. We love the thrill of hearing about people who push boundaries and break rules in ways we mere mortals could never imagine.

And Blay-Miezah? He was one of the greatest.

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Get your copy of Anansi’s Gold here!