A popular feature of Jade Riley Mysteries Books 1 to 3 is the song titles I used to name each chapter. This suited novels with creative arts elements: ballroom dance for The Godfather of Dance, the music world for Killer Among Friends and theatre for The Man in the Dam. Jade Riley Mysteries Books 4 and 5 revert to straight chapter titles, but I have a playlist for The Runaway Girl, Book 4 that isn’t mentioned in the book. It comes from a stage production I wrote in 2009 that was once produced as Second Chances and later as Batonga.
The plotline for this production about human trafficking inspired Yinka’s story in The Runaway Girl, so songs that influenced the play, also influenced the novel. A couple of tracks warrant further discussion.
The song ‘Batonga’ is by Angélique Kidjo, a grammy-award-winning singer from Benin, West Africa, which lies along the west border of Nigeria. The lyrics are in fon, a West African language, but the word ‘batonga’ is made up. Angelique invented it when she was being bullied at school. It means ‘Leave me alone, I will do what I want.’ When she grew up, she began an organisation called Batonga that supports the most vulnerable girls in Benin and other parts of Africa. They offer mentoring and education in life skills, including economic management.
Another song worth mentioning is ‘Jailer’ by Asa, a French-born Nigerian singer. In the lyrics, she speak directly to her jailer, who she claims is also imprisoned. The type of jailer she means is left to the imagination, but it could be any sort of person limiting her freedom: a boss, a teacher or a literal jailer.
For reference, I’ve listed the songs I used here, so you can hear what I had in mind.
| Schindler’s List: Main title theme | John Williams, Itzhak Perlman, Boston Symphony Orchestra |
| Gimme Shelter (Featuring Joss Stone) | Angélique Kidjo |
| Waiting On the World to Change | John Mayer |
| I’ve Got Dreams To Remember | Angélique Kidjo |
| Au revoir | Daniel Balavoine |
| To Loki | Alberto Iglesias |
| Running Up That Hill | Placebo |
| Libertango | Cuarteto Almagro |
| Espana Cani | Ballrom Latin Dance |
| Hotel Camelia | Nathaniel Méchaly |
| Stuck Here Like Mom | Carter Burwell |
| The Lost Children | Michael Jackson |
| Children Of The World | Amy Grant |
| Raid | Alberto Iglesias |
| Tenderly | New 101 Strings Orchestra |
| Angel’s Waltz | Matt Holtzman |
| Humans Are Predators Too | Carter Burwell |
| Jailer | Asa |
| Mercy On Me | Christina Aguilera |
| Roadblock I | Alberto Iglesias |
| Ne Cedez Jamais | Angélique Kidjo |
| Funeral | Alberto Iglesias |
| The Last Fight | Nathaniel Méchaly |
| Justin Returns to the House | Alberto Iglesias |
| Just In Time | Bobby Darin |
| Batonga | Angélique Kidjo |
I hope you enjoy this playlist. If you had to choose a song to speak out about a topic that’s important to you, what would it be?
For reference to the other playlists, see these blogs Writing a Mystery: Chapter Titles/Playlist The Godfather of Dance, Writing a Mystery: Chapter Titles/Playlist A Killer Among Friends and Writing a Mystery: Chapter Titles/Playlist The Man in the Dam.
In conversation at Ink Bookshop, the bookshop owner, Charlotte Lindsay suggested I create a Spotify playlist for each book and put a QR code at the start of the book so readers can listen along. I’ve implemented this idea for the first three books, although Spotify have now updated the way they do QR codes and these are no longer valid. However, if you’d like to listen on Spotify, these are the links: The Godfather of Dance on Spotify, A Killer Among Friends on Spotify and The Man in the Dam on Spotify.
You can find the Jade Riley Mysteries using these links Amazon Australia, Amazon US, Ink Bookshop, Avenue Bookshop, or go to my website for more options.
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