Riotous Assembly is a blazing satire of South African apartheid, penned by the master of comic fiction, Tom Sharpe. This novel combines the slapstick comedy and extreme irony that Sharpe is renowned for, providing a lacerating account of the Hazelstone family's war against the police force of a provincial town in South Africa during apartheid.

The story unfolds with Miss Hazelstone of Jacaranda Park committing a sensational crime passionel by killing her Zulu cook. The gallant members of the South African police force are soon on the scene, including Kommandant van Heerden, whose secret longing for the heart of an English gentleman leads to the most memorable transplant operation yet recorded.
Luitenant Verkramp of the Security Branch is ever active in the pursuit of Communist cells, while Konstabel Els has a propensity for shooting first and not thinking later.

In the course of the strange events that follow, readers encounter some very esoteric perversions when the Kommandant is held captive in Miss Hazelstone's remarkable rubber room, and some even more amazing perversions of justice when Miss Hazelstone's brother, the Bishop of Barotseland, is sentenced to be hanged on the ancient gallows in the local prison.

This novel provides a completely fresh approach to the South African scene—an approach startling in its deadpan savagery and yet also outrageously funny.