Rating: 
Summary: Important issues of race are handled very superficially
Review: The heroine of this mystery, the first in a series of "Ivy League Mystery" stories planned by the author, is Veronica "Nikki" Chase, an African-American Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Harvard's campus is the principal setting for this story, which, in addition to being a whodunit, is intended to provide an inside look at the internecine politics of a college campus and the contemporary experiences of African-Americans within that milieu. When Ella Fisher, another African-American woman who is the Dean of Students at Harvard Law School, dies in a fall down the stairs on the first day of the academic year, Nikki takes over the school budget figures that Ella has been analyzing for the Crimson Future Committee, a prestigious University committee to which both women have been appointed. Nikki discovers a discrepancy in one school's budget figures and tries to ascertain its source. Soon thereafter, a series of occurrences confirms Nikki's suspicion that Ella's death may not have been an accident. Although this was a decent mystery, I was more intrigued by the prospect of seeing contemporary race relations played out in a college campus setting. I was disappointed in that aspect of the novel. The problem is that the author hints at some of the tensions, then backs down from any extended examination of these issues, much in the same way that Nikki backs down from a debate with white male and female faculty members over which are the great minds of Western literature that must be read by any educated person. Nikki objects to the short list of Plato, Virgil, Goethe, Kant that is sanctioned by her fellow academicians, citing its failure to include any literature created by blacks or women. However, the peremptory dismissal of her position by the others causes Nikki to break off the engagement out of concern for her career. I know that this is a legitimate fear and probable reaction for someone in Nikki's position, but without at least some exploration of the reasoning behind these statements, the characters seem superficial and even stereotyped. As a result of the lack of in-depth analysis, Nikki's identity as black woman is not a very strong one. She never tells us anything about her family. Her closest friend is a white woman, a medical resident whose speech is supposed to be laced with the vocabulary of the hip-hop crowd. (To show her affinity with blacks?) Fortunately, this bit of chicanery is dropped later in the book. However, there is nothing else in the book which explains why the two women are close, and there is never any hint that race is ever an issue in their relationship. That's not the reality that I know. Interracial relationships are defined as much by what is said about the issue of race as by what is left unsaid. For the same reasons, it also isn't clear why Nikki is mesmerized by Dante Rosario, her fellow faculty member and former college sweetheart, who grew up in an Italian family from South Boston. She alludes more than a few times to his past emotional cruelty to her, is put off by his dates with white women (as well as a portrait of one that has been the centerpiece of his living room since their college days), and even confronts him with her beliefs that he is unwilling to have her meet his family or be seen with her in public because she is black. Her attraction to him remains overpowering in spite of all this. In contrast, when she decides to attend an important University dance in the company of a black law student, whom she feels is one "of the few successful black people at Harvard," she is immediately turned off when she notices that he is wearing red high-topped sneakers with his tuxedo. Later on in the evening, Nikki sees Rosario at the dance - in the company of a white woman, of course. The relationships between other characters of different races also are contrived awkwardly in ways that do not bring any clarification to the reasons for their ambivalence toward one another. For example, Maggie Dailey, Nikki's black landlady, a woman whose promising career at Harvard was derailed by discrimination in the early 1960's, spends an entire afternoon joyfully preparing (with some assistance from Nikki) an elaborate dinner to welcome Dante and his roommate, Ted, as her new tenants. Then, during a brief period in the kitchen with Nikki during that meal, Maggie sternly and inexplicably admonishes her against "falling in love with some Italian man with a strange name. . . .he'll never take you seriously. He wants one thing from you, and once he gets it, he'll be gone again. That's all they ever want from us." This was the same advice given by Anita to Maria about Tony in "West Side Story", but that was within the context of a gang rivalry between the two ethnic groups. "It's not about race," say Dante and the other faculty members in telling Nikki that they think that the values of Plato et al. transcend such boundaries and obviate any need to include black minds among their list of great thinkers. "It's not about race," Dante tells Nikki, when he explains why he broke off their relationship at an earlier time in their lives. Nikki allows these assertions, which we hear all too often, to slip by largely unchallenged, even in her own thoughts. I would have preferred the author to have devoted more energy to fulfilling the promise implied by including a quote from W. E. B. DuBois ( "I was in Harvard, but not of it") and a lot less time on the Economics jargon. I have more than a passing acquaintance with Economics as a result of my undergraduate studies, but I did not find it to be an interesting aspect of Nikki's character or of the story. Her knowledge of Economics was not relevant to her resolution of the mystery to which she seeks an answer : "Why had two of the few successful black people at Harvard been struck down in the space of a week?" In the end, it is not the mystery, but rather the implication of Nikki's question - that not all blacks at Harvard are successful - that requires further elucidation in a book that chooses to make race a campus issue.
Rating: 
Summary: enjoyable Black eye-view of Harvard told in a good mystery
Review: Enjoyed this a lot, despite flaws - I agree that the landlady is too much the stereotype "southern Black momma caretaker ", and named Magnolia, yet! (Yes, I know she's named after one of the author's relatives, but real life is never an excuse for stereotypes in fiction; in fiction, if you name a Black woman Magnolia, then let her be a rake-thin, flinty, Calvinist Black woman who wears Chanel suits--if people still wear Chanel suits--and an executive terror on Wall Street--a STEEL Magnolia.) The other truly irksome part of the book was the relationship with the Italian-American boyfriend. This relationship seemed lifted straight from the weaker romance novels -- an annoying, self-satisfied "hero" with no appeal whatever except his looks, and an otherwise intelligent heroine who folds at the knees in his presence -- and yes, again, this does happen in real life, but that doesn't justify doing it in fiction! Other than that: I disagree with the reader who grumbled about its slow pace and lack of action: like many contemporary mysteries, DARKER is in large part about its setting and characters. For example, I enjoyed reading about the heroine's difficult relationship with her department mentor. I enjoyed the tone, beginning with the opening paragraph, which bluntly lays down the "rules" Blacks feel they must follow to survive at Harvard. For me, the mystery/adventure was satisfying but secondary to the exploration of how Blacks deal with a place like Harvard. I've done a lot of work at many colleges and universities and found the portrayal of power relationships and racial relationships (and Harvard hypocrisy) quite convincing. I'll definitely be looking out for this author's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable murder mystery
Review: I picked this book up at Barnes and Noble after reading a good reveiw. I enjoy mysteries and romances. I realy enjoyed the way Ms Thomas Graham writes and I will be securing the follow up to this novel. I hope she develops the story of Nikki and Dante and explains what happen in their past.
This book was a good start to an new crime solver. Hopefully Ms Thomas Graham will continue to hone Nikki's skills in this area. It might help if she had som self defense training if she going to be in more dangerous scenes.
Hopefully the next book will develop faster as the author will not have to go into the background of the lead character so much.
I hope to have the new book befor the end of the weekend and I reveiw it also.
Rating:
Summary: LIke Zelig
Review: A very good quick read but it Nikki Chase our heroine seems always to be in the right place at the right time. This type of mystery seems somewhat unreal. It is saved by some terrific characters. I especially enjoyed the Rafe the police man who adopts Nikki
The ending was enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A Quick, Fun Read
Review: In this gripping mystery, Pamela Thomas Graham introduced the world to a new sister sleuth. Graham's characterizations are phenomenal, the writing is flawless, and the storyline is enthralling. I'd encourage anyone looking for a chilling mystery with a thick plot, set in an innovative location to check out A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON. Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers Complete review can be found on our website...
Rating: 
Summary: Unimaginative mystery, decent writing.
Review: Ms. Thomas-Graham did an admirable job for a first novel. I think it's too long by 100 pages and the "mystery" wasn't too dificult to figure out. [Without giving some things way, one immediately knew who was responsible for the budget discrepancies after the first 30 pages.] As for the death of Ella, if you've read enough mysteries, you could have figured that one out, as well. The writing isn't bad; it's breezy without being pedestrian and I learned a few new words. I think it's the plotting that's the problem: lots of useless information about characters; lots exposition about her specialty (economics) that don't move the story along, and several stereotypical characters (Maggie immediately comes to mind along with Isiah). My central problem: How Nikki reacted every time she came in contact with Dante. It was distracting and unrealistic and in the end, it could have been cut completely from the book. I liked the insights into Harvard (such as they were), but most of those characters came off as stereotypes and nothing in their behavior (words or actions) provided any new or insightful information. As for the antagonist: didn't buy it at all. At page 260, I jumped to the end because, by then, the story was essentially over. I went back and skimmed through the pages I didn't read and I didn't miss a thing. All that said, I'll read the next book in the series because one book doesn't give an author a chance. And while I think the character of Nikki is pretty bland, maybe the author will give her some "umph" in the next and subsequent books as she develops as a writer.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh breath of air
Review: I wanted to hate this book. My petty cattiness wanted to pick this book apart due to the fact that the author is a glamorous, educated woman with the world at her feet. The green eyed monster aside, I found the book to be readable but not up to the hype that it has been given. Veronica "Nikki" Chase stumbles over the body of a colleague after a blackout. She then becomes interested in finding out who did it, and why. Along the way there are ex husbands, implied affairs, scandals, and ex boyfriends. Did Pamela Thomas Griffin write this book with Writer's Digest 'Beginnings, Middles & Ends' open on her desk? This book was way too formalistic and predictable. This section is a spoiler, so read only if you don't mind knowing how the book ends. My complaints: A) The best friend Jess. She was so corny, with her 'slang' laced talk. B) The ex-boyfriend, Dante. What was up with him? Was he the equivalent of a black man's blonde eyed trophy? Was he there so she could have a secondary plot? And since Nikki was so irresistible to every man she met, why would she let this guy push her buttons so? He was callous about her feelings, but it seemed that she spent the eight years he was away thinking only of him. C) The fact that Nikki decided to investigate. What was this - a bad episode of Charlie's Angels? There seemed to be no reason for Nikki to stick her nose into the business of Ella's death. I couldn't get find any motivation behind her search. The two had only just become friends at the time of her death, so there wasn't even any reason to suspect foul play. And less we not forget the tragic mulatto. For crying out loud, this is 2001! This passing issue could play about fifty years ago. Some people seem to have an issue with the fact that Nikki had no close friends of color except Maggie. Since she was in Boston I found this to be credible. I did enjoy reading about Harvard and the elite. Since I'll probably never be one of them, it was nice to get a peek at how the other half lives. Borrow this book from a friend or the library. It is not one to own.
Rating:
Summary: Economist? What Economist?
Review: While other reviewers seem to have read the book because it was about a black, or a woman, or Harvard, or because it was written by a black woman from Harvard, I read it because the main character was an economist. And in that respect, I was sorely disappointed. Nikki Chase has a job in the Economics Department at Harvard, but she uses no economic insights, economic logic, or economic laws to help her figure out the crime. By comparison the "Henry Spearman" series by Marshall Jevons, or the various books by Russell Roberts, all feature protagonists who make use of the laws of economics. In the Henry Spearman books, such issues as changes in relative prices, opportunity cost, and economic constraints factor in to the solution. Russell Roberts even uses the ghost of David Ricardo, a famous British Classical economist, to tell one of his stories. But author Pamela Thomas-Graham, despite having been an undergraduate economics major, shows no evidence of understanding anything about economics. It is important that Nikki Chase is a professor, but she could as easily have been in sociology, physics, or basket weaving for the importance that the academic field itself played in the plot. That is, she uses the flexibility allowed in academia to take time off during the day to wander around and check stuff out; in a non-academic position, it would be much harder to do this. However, this ability to wander around campus during the day time is hardly unique to economists. Likewise, Thomas-Graham's undergraduate experiences have shown through this work. Her heroine carries around a backpack like an undergraduate; I don't know of any professors who do so. A brief case, a stachel, or even a tote bag are more likely devices.
In addition, the lead character is apparently required to write papers for her department head. This is extremely odd. While collaborations certainly exist in academia, I am completely unfamiliar with (indeed shocked at) the idea that a department head can order a junior faculty member to write his articles for him. I doubt that a Harvard department chairman needs a junior faculty member to do so; after all, the Harvard charman got where he is by doing outstanding work in the first place. Given all that, I found that the book flowed reasonably well. I had no problem sitting down and reading for an hour or two. I was not particularly annoyed by the fairly mild exploration of racial issues (as were some of the other reviewers), and I was only mildly annoyed at the frequent name-dropping. (I confess to not understanding all of the dropped references to locations, brand names, and other things that the author thought important enough to push at me.) However, by the end, I had no particular interest in whodunit. I didn't care whether the killer was the janitor, the president, the cop, the pizza delivery kid, or even Nikki Chase herself. When the author finally revealed the killer, I was not surprised, shocked, or self-congratulatory. I was merely through with the book. That said, I did go ahead and read the next book in the series, in the hopes that the author had worked out a few kinks in the first book and the second would be better. And my thoughts on that work are pretty much the same. I doubt I will read anything else by this author.
| 
