Showing posts with label Black Writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Writers. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Two New #Blackmysteries Launching Within the Coming Weeks

Just a general heads up since we’re talking about Black women writing mysteries–per my last post on Tracy Clark. We have two pieces coming up in the first two months of 2023 (that I am aware of now).


Patricia Sargeant is writing as Olivia Matthews in another new series centered around baking pastries with a West Indian flare down to the Brooklyn streets. The first book in the series is Against the Currant: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery. It’s due out January 24th, with a follow-up called Hard Dough Homicide coming in May 2023. So Matthews is not playing, honey. And I live for the back-to-back releases. Matthews is coming for the cozy field, as it appears this new series will share in all its West Indian culture and flavor. 

As a matter of fact, culture and taste were two things I found missing in the first book of her previous series. I have yet to read the second book, but I hope to get to it soon. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Matthew's new (dare I say "daring") series. Many times authors such as Matthews have to either remove or water down cultural references and themes in their work. So this is Matthew saying to the cozy field: NOT TODAY, SATAN. NOT TODAY! That aside, my pre-order is in. Read Matthew's Sister Lou series if you can.




Author Patricia Raybon is back with her 1920s historical fiction-themed series featuring ex-college professor Annalee Spain. Double the Lies will release on February 7th of 2023. Despite my flurry of criticisms about the first book, I look forward to buying this one upon release. 

And such a treat this series is because you hardly EVER find a mystery series that takes place in the flapper days with a black woman in the lead. Like, NEVER. Go to the bookstore and see what I'm talking about! Anyway, how absolutely BOLD this cover is. The feeling I get knowing Raybon and Annalee Spain is COMING for the girls this season does my heart good. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one, too. With, of course, the hopes the author improves on her plotting and not rely on traditional mystery tropes to tell her story.

Saturday, December 18, 2021

Last Few 2021 Black Mysteries I Desire to Read


*In-text links are Amazon affiliate

I pretty much had to play buying books by ear this year. With tuition payments blessedly covered, the majority of my book spending was on a desperately needed few new releases (ala J. D. Robb) while trying to read many of the unread titles already littering my bookshelves. So, naturally, as seen by my frequency here and in other places, black authors' mysteries are a consistent purchase. And though I can't catch them all, I usually grab a decent few. Alas, here are two that have been on my radar all year, but I only recently managed to snag in the hopes of devouring them soon (Holiday break hopeful). Nonetheless, they are…

All that is Secret (An Annalee Spain Mystery) by Patricia Raybon. First things first, if you are in the bookstore looking for this book (which I encourage you to do), note that it is primarily shelved in the Christian Fiction section instead mystery. Anyway, the story takes place in 1923 and follows Annalee Spain. She’s a theology professor at what is known as Chicago Bible college. Evidently, she gets a telegram asking her to return to her hometown in Denver, per the killing of her father. Thus, ensues a mystery. 

What captured my attention when I first came across the book was the infusion (per the synopsis) of what appears a woman taking on a sunset town, while driven by her love of Sherlock Holmes to keep her focused and steady as she solves her father's murder.


Though the book contains romance and is categorically Christian Fiction, I hope that the book does not shy too far away from speaking toward the racial commentary/exposition suggested in the synopsis. I hope the author will be honest and daring, instead being enraptured with sounding safe. And though I’m certain forgiveness is a theme, I want it to LAND. Basically, I am trying to emphasize that I want to be MOVED by every element suggested in this work. No, for real. I'm ready to be knocked out by the book. Regardless, much praise to Raybon’s cover artistic because the cover to All that is Secret is gorgeous! And I have a strong feeling my mamma might like this book, too. But, of course, I'll have to buy her her own copy should I love it for myself.

So I saw Shanora Williams’ book, The Perfect Ruin, back in the spring. I can’t remember where, but another author was promoting a live stream or something featuring Williams. Hell, I forget. Anyway, the point is that I saw Williams’ face on the announcement and raced to add her book to my wishlist. Nevertheless, according to Amazon, The Perfect Ruin seems relatively dark. Ivy Hill is traumatized and tormented by some tragedy in her childhood. Whatever the case, she is now so messed up that she doesn't see a reason to continue living. Until she finds out who was "responsible" for the tragedy that wrecked her life. This person is evidently a wealthy socialite.

Then Ivy infiltrates the socialite's circle and… well… let the PLOTTING AND SCHEMING BEGAN. This book puts three things in mind: the TV show Revenge, your usual 100+ episode Korean drama, and those recent thrillers like Gone Girl (or something, chile. I don’t know…). The book is labeled a psychological thriller, so we’ll see what happens. But the onlyyyyyy hesitation I have when it comes to psychological thrillers is that the stakes have to matter. Like, every deceptive chess move has to gag me with calculated twists and turns until that final confrontation. And the antagonist has to be just as crafty as the protagonis–that sort of thing. 

Chile, I tried to read a Jeffrey Deaver psychological thriller book earlier this year and couldn't get past fifty pages. To me, psychological thrillers aren't great when you can tell the author is playing in the reader's face. The reader has to connect with the protagonist. To care about their circumstances/motives to stick around for the payoff. That's all I'm gon’ say. But I look forward to finally reading ThePerfect Ruin.

Anyway, I’m done typing. I still have Dead Dead Girls by Nekesha Afia on my list.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

My #ReadSoulLit Start-Ups

 

So I would start a James Baldwin book the weekend before taking my Grandmother to two specialists the following week. Then the week after is my birthday week, as well as my return to the classroom. Busy little beaver, I suppose. Not the best time to find myself waist deep in Baldwin’s level of immersion and gripping engagement. Yet, I chose to pick up his book, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone. But who am I kidding? It is always the perfect timing for a Baldwin book. As I write this, I am fifty pages in and on my second cup of coffee for the evening. His work is that absorbing; I always want to be alert to his offerings. And here it is about to start raining! The right vibe. The right move. The right night. As I have stated, perfect timing.

I’m halfway through Tammye Huf’s A More Perfect Union. It is the book chosen for the #ReadSoulLit read-along of 2021. So far, I am liking the book. It is a fictionalized retelling of the author’s ancestors' love story, seeded in a Virginia plantation around 1849. You take a slave named, Sarah, and her Irish immigrant beau named Henry; imagine the peril involved. One thing I enjoy is Henry's narrative insight into the Irish immigrate experience. I also enjoy the parallel of family pain and trauma both Sarah and Henry share, though the overall illustrations of those shared traumas are fairly "light" (if you will). Nevertheless, their pain is something that draws them to one another. To keep a balance, Sarah and Henry do alternate shifting his or her narrative throughout the book. Yet, there is a third character named Maple that is as desperate to share her painful narrative as well. And an interesting one it is, considering she is the half-sister of the plantation’s mistress.

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