Tag:

African American & Black

Review

The Game is Afoot

by Brian Kenney

When is a cozy so much fun that you need to put down everything you are reading (or streaming) to just enjoy it? When that book is written by Elise Bryant, author of It’s Elementary. Here Mavis, our supermom hero, has way too many balls in the air. There’s the DEIB workshop in her daughter’s school that she has to attend—that’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging—where “I’ll be forced to sit here and smile and pretend like all the microaggressions that are surely coming are okay….” Plus her job which she finally abandons after imagining leaving for years. Add in her ex-husband, who is behaving exactly like she always wished he would when they were married. And a totally charming boyfriend. Then there’s the bevy of activities her daughter Pearl needs to be chauffeured to (almost-eight-year-old Pearl, BTW, is as sophisticated as she is funny.) It all comes slamming down one Saturday morning at soccer when Coach Cole drops dead, gasping for air. Sounds like a heart attack? Sure does. Except it turns out to be homicide. And who should take on investigating the Coach’s death? Fun and fearless—with an occasional anxiety attack—Mavis is the perfect character for 2025.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

History Lessons

by Brian Kenney

A unique work of crime fiction told from the perspective of a BIPOC community within an elite, east coast university. Daphne Ouverture, an expert on French colonialism, is a new junior professor. She keeps a low-key life, focused on her research and teaching, with her circle of friends and family (but most assuredly not any of her miserable dates) providing support. Wallbrook does a great job of depicting what life is like for Black women in Harrison University, an Ivy League environment (too often invisible, too often fetishized). But when young professor Sam Taylor, the darling of the anthropology department, is murdered, Daphne’s world is blown wide open. Sam was no friend of Daphne’s, although their paths crossed more than once. It gradually becomes clear that whoever killed Sam is now pursuing Daphne, believing that she has invaluable information, and there’s no place on campus she can feel safe. The pleasures of this book are many, from watching Daphne’s development—and taking on of social-justice issues that have an impact on many of the Harrison women—to the always ready advice from her father and from the appearance of a love interest to the joy of her friendship circle. At the same time, this book can go dark fast with stalking, rape, and sexual abuse all mentioned. Much is made of Daphne’s unique skills as a detective—she’s gifted—and more Daphne can only make the world a much better place.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right

by Henrietta Thornton

It’s the names that tell those new to Mosley that they’re in for something special: the main character, King’s, of course, but then there are Forthright Jorgensen, Gladstone Palmer, and Melquarth Frost. Dickens, look out. Studded with descriptions such as “like grooming a fancy doll with razor blades in her hair” and characters who resemble “a human container of stoppered rage,” Mosley’s tale of love lost and found and inner strength battling terrible odds sees his PI Joe King Oliver helping two women this time. One is his grandmother, Grandma B. She wants to see her son, King’s long-incarcerated father, one more time before she dies, which won’t be far off. Then King’s PI business sets him on the search for a woman whose husband is looking for her, only it looks like King shouldn’t tell the man her whereabouts. Our hero’s emotions as he barely contains the pain of losing his father to jail just so the man could keep his pride intact wonderfully gird this fast-moving tale of the guts it takes to stay true to tough beginnings.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Death of an Ex

by Brian Kenney

Readers were introduced to Evander “Vandy” Myrick in the excellent first book in this series, Trouble in Queenstown. In that book, Vandy had just returned to her hometown (Queenstown, New Jersey) to establish herself as a private investigator, while still mourning the death of her college-age daughter. It’s a strong narrative that ricochets from Vandy’s tragic past to her gutsy present. In Death of an Ex, Vandy once again gets tangled up with family, specifically her ex-husband, Phil Bolden, who walks into her life—and into her bedroom—promising to bring their family back together. But after just one night together, Bolden is found murdered. And Vandy decides it’s her responsibility to investigate who killed him. But Bolden was complicated: a successful businessman, father, philanthropist, and more. And as the only Black woman investigator in town, Vandy has little privacy but is a victim of plenty of gossip. Once again, Pitts has written a novel rich in the many layers of community while delving deeply into the character of Vandy; the balance between the two is perfect. A great choice for a reading group.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Streetwhys

by Henrietta Thornton

After Scavenger and Standalone, Chambers has brought his DC PI Dickie Cornish back to have his smarts tested and his heart trampled on again. Dickie’s clean after “a mishap in college” (Howard University, no less) saw him living as an addict on the streets and in various flophouses. He’s the kind of guy who lets his cat eat mayo and crumbs off his plate, but can put a tough facade on when he has to. When a way-out-of-his-league former classmate, now Deputy Attorney General of the United States, asks him—with the threat of a murder charge from his past if he says no—to find out who’s supplying lethal drugs to the area, he’s back on the streets, tough attitude in place. Readers are in for a layered mystery here, with Dickie moving between tent cities and the Department of Justice to figure out what’s going on, and with figures from his past reappearing and adding to the puzzle and mayhem. Throughout, the Black PI’s failure to fit in his old haunts and new ones creates an atmospheric tension that’s imparted by Dickie’s inner monologue and realistic dialogue with characters of all kinds. Noir fans, look out.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Love You to Death

by Brian Kenney

Zorie and Kayla, best friends since third grade, work as house cleaners in a so-so hotel, a position that allows them to engage in a bit of light stealing but not enough to keep them afloat. Which is how the two get involved in crashing weddings where they can pick up some major hauls (steal the money and pawn the goods) while not knowing a soul. Until one weekend they head off to work a rural wedding that they promise each other will be their last gig (“best friend’s honor” is their motto), only to discover that they are the only two Black women at an antebellum-themed wedding. Heading out of town as fast as they can, they are involved in an accident that sends them into temporary hiding as the news blares forth the story of the “Wedding Crash Killers.” Without any support from family, and no friends that can help, things start to escalate and the two head to New Orleans, leaving a trail of blood and bodies in their wake. Zorie and Kayla are forced to make tough decisions about their future and their friendship in this brilliant depiction of two young women who can barely keep alive financially. Completely compelling, full of dark humor, and providing a deep investigation into the nature of friendship, this book is high on my list for book discussions.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

A Murder for Miss Hortense

by Henrietta Thornton

If you’re hankering for bulla cake, coco fritters, gizadas, or other Caribbean foods, Miss Hortense has you covered, with recipes for those dishes and more provided throughout this introduction to the steely “pardner lady.” Readers can learn the ins and outs of the pardner while meeting Hortense’s frenemies and neighbors—who are mostly one and the same—in millennium London and flashbacks to the city in the 1960s, but the basic premise is that it’s the kind of money club often used by those who are unbanked. English banks won’t let Hortense and other members of her Black community have accounts, so the pardner sees them each contribute money every week, with members taking turns to get the whole pot. Over the years, the club has allowed its contributors to “become the person they wrote back home and boasted that they were.” But now all the funds have disappeared at the same time that there are several deaths in the community. Even the supposedly natural demises get Hortense thinking, but some of the deaths bear the hallmarks of attacks that happened years ago, when a man the community called the brute beat several women to death and left biblical messages with their bodies. Is he back? Hortense and the other pardner members will have to do their “Looking into Bones,” which is what they call their investigations. These have the habit of “creating more dots than perhaps connections,” but allow readers to explore a tangle of love, loathing, and buried secrets that leads to a delightful Christie-like ending in which fingers are pointed and confessions made. Zadie Smith fans should pick up this winner.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Oyebanji, Adam. Two Times Murder

by Henrietta Thornton

Some jobs are more permanent than others, such as working for Russia’s GRU, or secret service. Greg Abimbola, real name Grigoriy Adamovich Petrov, has left the organization and now lives a traitorous life, according to his old colleagues, in Pittsburgh. There he teaches Russian and French at a prestigious school, masquerading as a quiet British man who’s content to help students with grammar and teenage issues. Greg is mixed race, his father Black and mother white, so being an outsider is a well-worn path for him, and he’s thriving in his new life. Until, that is, GRU wants his help—and they never ask nicely. A man has been found dead in Pittsburgh, with signs that he’s Russian, possibly a man that GRU has been after, and they want to know who’s responsible. Greg then becomes a kind of double agent, as a contact he has in the Pittsburg police since he helped solve a murder (in the series debut, A Quiet Teacher, 2022) also wants his help with the mystery of the dead maybe-Russian. And then a second death, labeled a suicide but maybe a murder related to a proposed and hotly debated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program at another local school, sees Greg also investigating. There’s no need to read the first book to enjoy this one, but readers will undoubtedly want more from this lovable teacher who brings his spy smarts to every encounter but knows enough to conceal them when necessary—and when to drop the facade to perfect effect. The ending here is—what’s the Russian for chef’s kiss? Get this on your list!

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Young, Pamela Samuels and Dwayne Alexander Smith. Sounds Like a Plan.

by Brian Kenney

A fun, fast-reading thromance (that’s thriller+romance) with echoes of the old TV Show Moonlighting (if Cybill Shepherd were carrying around an assault rifle in her trunk.) Mackenzie and Jackson are two Black private investigators who are hired by the same client to track down a missing young woman. The first one to locate her will receive a cool $50,000. The two PIs are as different as can be. Princeton-grad Mackenzie comes from a seriously affluent family, with a mother who can only register disgust at her daughter’s choice of career. Jackson grew up in tougher circumstances and came up through the LAPD before hanging out his own shingle. Mackenzie is struggling to get her business off the ground, while Jackson is highly successful but can’t stop indulging in fancy cars and an even fancier wardrobe. The narrative flips between the two personalities, chapter-by-chapter, which gives the authors a chance to explore their characters’ personal lives while keeping the story moving briskly along. As their paths cross, the tension between Mackenzie and Jackson builds, while their struggle to survive becomes paramount. Smith and Young have laid out everything that’s necessary for the making of a wonderful series.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Listen to Your Sister

by Henrietta Thornton

Calla, 25, has carried her family forever—they’re a “collectively forked tongue, sharp and dangerous”—and their endless needs drag her from the better life she was building. She’s now a fretful, parenting-advice-reading mom to her lovable but wayward younger brother Jamie, 16. Their father is dead; their mean, drunken mother took off; and middle child, Dre, is no help, despite swearing that if Calla became Jamie’s guardian, he’d be there for them. “Redneck Amish Mormons would be better guardians than you,” says Jamie, in one of the book’s many grimly funny moments, and the pinnacle of his unthinking rejection is driving to a Black Lives Matter protest with a group of friends—when he promised Calla he’d stay home—to give the protesters some illicit help. Jamie has been experiencing bizarre moments, such as when his hand dissolves into a girl’s face and he can feel her insides; more of the same happens at the protest, but no excuses can help Jamie with the law when he’s Black and the protest gets violent. Things are simultaneously going monumentally wrong for Dre, who now must also dodge the police; Calla is once again on the hook to save her brothers from themselves. This is where fear and body horror meet hope and love, the siblings’ lengthy battle for one another stretching their emotional and physical limits and revealing their true selves in all their fury and strength. Debut author Viel really brings the horror here, it’s not for the squeamish at all, but those who can brave this epic fight will be rewarded with a story to remember.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail