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: 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: School is back in session!
Review: A severely lengthy novel, A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON deals with Nikki Chase, former Wall Street raider, now Harvard professor, who stumbles on the dead body of Rozella Fisher while finding her way down the emergency stairwell during a blackout in one of the halls. Nikki does some background history on her friend and finds out that she never had a degree, but she had a position in the finance department of the university. She had a connection with several major players on the campus that she kept to herself, and a disk that held several discrepencies between what was and wasn't counted with the school's budget. These contradictions and how they surrounded Rozella is what propels this mystery along. It's not enough that Nikki's former boyfriend, Dante, moves back into her life, but the fact that he is living in the same building makes it too close for comfort, adding the sexual tension. Again, the book is a long one, and the spaces between the mystery and the ex's can be a little too much at times, but it introduced a new mystery sleuth in a new atmosphere loaded with numerous cracks in the armor, hopefully bringing forth numerous stories.
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: Kirkus Review, February 15,1998
Review: An impressive first outing introduces Nikki Chase, a young black economics professor at Harvard and a feisty addition to the roster of female amateur sleuths. Nikki has discovered the body of Ella Fisher, the outspoken black dean of students, on a staircase in the Littauer building--this after a meeting of the prestigious Crimson Future Committee, to which both women had been appointed. The police are calling it murder, and Nikki's snooping indeed soon evokes a barrage of suspicions: Was Ella having an affair with the college's newly appointed President Leo Barrett? Where did that leave Barrett's blue-blooded wife Victoria? What is going on between Nikki's mentor Ian McAllister, of the Managment Board, and Comptroller Christian Chung, as the Committee struggles to project the school's finanical needs accurately? Why was Nikki attacked in the stacks of the Widener Library-- her backpack snatched? Who had poisoned her escort Justin Simms at the Fogg Museum Gala, and why? All this, and much more, as Nikki tries to resolve her rocky romance with charismatic Dante Rosario. Answers come slowly, and there are crucial secrets to uncover, before a high-noon standoff brings a surprising denouement. Despite an oversized, albeit intriguing, cast of players and a needlessly complex network of confrontations and subplots, Thomas-Graham's precisely rendered campus background, vivid characters, easy dialogue, and fluidly entertaining narrative mark a robustly talented new recruit to the genre.
Rating:
Summary: CAPTIVATING, INSIGHTFUL AND FRESH
Review: Did the other amazon.com readers read the same book I did? Pamela Thomas-Graham's book was great, and I commend it to anyone who enjoys good writing and a good story. Updating the standard mystery to accomodate contemporary reality -- in this case, the existence of talented women of color in elite environments -- is bound to bring out the critics. As other reader comments on this site attest, when someone dares to tell a fresh story, offer a new perspective, and present characters that think and feel authentically, the arm-chair critics and frustrated commissars come out of the woodwork, armed as always with Capitalized Outrage. Take a chill pill, folks! I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery of A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON but enjoyed even more the heroine and her mind. Nikki Chase is smart, honest, ambitious and insecure -- kinda the way most of us see ourselves. Pamela Thomas- Graham is a witty, artful writer and I look forward to more books from her.
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: For a novice it was OK
Review: Even though I could relate immensely to Veronica Chase (her and I are nearly identical in thought and action), I still found the book to be pretty sophomoric and insipid for my mystery tastes.
Rating:
Summary: A touch of class
Review: Finally, a mystery featuring a black character who is educated, interesting, and does not speak ebonics and thinks about other things than models of cars or what designer clothing. And, her dialogue is fresh, lively, and doesn't constant begin with "Um." Reading about this Ivy League was interesting. My only complaints are that I didn't feel Nikki did much sleuthing, and the book was a bit too long. I did like the supporting cast. Also, the relationship with Dante was nicely done.
Rating:
Summary: I *did* finish it -- otherwise it would be 1 star.
Review: I agree with several of the 1 star reviews. Full of mystery cliches, lots of padding, pretty poor writing, and a cast of thoroughly one-dimensional characters -- the love interest between Nikki and Dante is so thin as to be comical. If the book were re-cast as comical, and re-written in that style, it might be much better. The main reason I finished was the Harvard/Cambridge connection. Good luck if you buy this one, but check the used bookstore first -- my copy will be there soon!
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