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by Karen Grigsby Bates
RT Rating: 
Category: MYSTERY
Publisher: Avon Trade
Published: May 2006
Type: Mystery (Amateur Sleuth, Series, African-American) |
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Los Angeles newspaper columnist Alex Powell attends the book signing of controversial author James Simpson Lee Hastings Jr., who's murdered in the bookstore's parking lot. Two more grisly, unexplainable deaths follow, and Alex ends up entangled in a mystery as she tries to discover the connection between the three killings as well as who's responsible.
Bates spotlights Los Angeles' privileged upper class (both black and white) and the less fortunate black working class. Diverse characters such as Alex's high-society landlady, Sally, and bitter community activist Kwaku Halstead, who becomes a suspect, strengthen the story.
Bates, a National Public Radio correspondent, captures the nuances of her characters in both language and mannerisms, allowing each to ring true. Her references to L.A.'s rich black history (i.e., the Black Panther Party movement on UCLA's campus in the 1960s) add authenticity to an already solid plot. Her second Alex Powell mystery does not disappoint. (May, 324 pp., $12.95)
—Melanie E. Bates |
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