Page 6
September 13, 2000
Focus
(Elje Portland ©beeruer
Blanche Passes Go
In Print
I3y Barbara Neely
Viking; 2000
Praise the Ancestors! After three
years in Boston Brahmin territory,
Blanche W hite is finally coming
home to Raleigh, North Carolina,
for an entire summer. And, like a
sign from above that she’s indeed
headed in the right direction, she’s
already lined up a date with the
handsome train conductor she met
somewhere between Boston and
Baltimore. The summer holds lots
o f promise - including a long-
awaited reunion with her best friend,
Ardell, as she helps out with Ardell’s
bustling new catering business.
Then, like a slap in the face on
her first night back, Blanche is
reminded o f a part o f home she’d
rather forget: David Palmer, the
man who raped her eight years ago
and who has tormented her mind
and spirit ever since, shows up as a
guest at her very first catering event.
The time has com e... she must exact
her revenge so that she can finally
move on.
RarbaraNeel
Then a young woman is murdered
and there are signs that David
P alm er m ay be in volved. So
Blanche sets o ff on a hunting
expedition - for clues she hopes
wil 1 help convict David Palmer and
put an end to his legacy once and for
all.
While Blanche is busy pursuing
all possible leads, there’s Thelvin,
the train co n d u cto r, p atie n tly
waiting for her. Will Blanche s
wariness o f men prevent her from
knowing a good thing when it’s
staring her smack dab in the face?
Join Blanche as she tries to
unravel the mysterious death o f a
young woman while untangling the
even greater mysteries o f love and
hate, revenge and forgiveness, all
with her feisty style, indomitable
wit, and unmatched spirit.
passes 6®
A Dangerous Road
By Kris Nclscott
St. Martin’s Minotaur;
2000
Memphis, 1968. The city is about
to explode, as the tensions and
resentments o f the struggle for civil
rights come to a head. The sanitation
workers’ strike has gone on for three
w e e k s,
fo rm e rly
p e a c e fu l
dem onstrations are turning into
riots, and the city is bracing for a
massive marchby Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. like the rest o f the country
that year, Memphis is battered by
violent forces o f change.
The social upheaval o f the late
sixties provides a dramatic setting
for Kris Nelscot’s powerful novel,
A Dangerous Road. This thought-
p ro v o k in g m ystery in tro d u ces
private eye Smokey Dalton, a man
with firsthand knowledge o f the
violence and prejudice that had
spurred the civil rights movement.
Thirty years earlier. Sm okey’s
parents were lynched in Atlanta.
The terrified child was adopted by
strangers, and grew up haunted by
the secrets surrounding his parents’
murder. Now, the arrival o f Laura
Hathaway will bring those secrets
to light. The wealthy young white
woman has tracked Smokey down
to find out why her mother - a
Chicago socialite—left the detective
$10,000 in her will. Sm okey’s
investigation uncovers an ugly trail
o f theft, kidnapping and murder,
along with a revelation that will
shatter both their lives.
In A D angerous Road, Kris
Nelscott has created a provocative
portrait o f the bitterness and hope
that characterized the tumultuous
events o f 1968. Smokey Dalton is a
complex and compelling character
that readers will want to know more
ab o u t. T h is n o v e l m ark s an
auspicious mystery debut by a very
talented writer.
Up North Records
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