Description:
In Grace F. Edwards's second mystery about the adventures of Mali Anderson, former New York City police officer, the sleuth investigates the murder of a popular and beautiful bartender named Thea at a Harlem watering hole. After Anderson's friend Kendrick is arrested for the murder, she sets out to clear his name and find the real culprit. It's hard for anyone to believe that Kendrick, a good natured young man, could have shot a woman in the face point blank. As Anderson unravels the mystery, Edwards provides her readers with a fascinating portrait of everyday life in Harlem. Anderson learns a great deal about the deceased woman's checkered past simply by listening to the gossip in two local beauty salons. Her other sources include the local bookie, Too Hot, and Flyin' Man, a wheelchair-bound former cat burglar whose two dogs propel him through the neighborhood at breakneck speed. Anderson learns that Thea was a former beauty queen, an aspiring singer, a woman who never got very close to anyone but attracted many men. At the time of Thea's death, she was romantically involved with at least three men: Kendrick, the owner of the bar, and a prominent local politician. All three men are suspects. After a wealthy white woman hires Anderson to investigate Thea's past, the detective doesn't know what to think--but she does know she has to think fast, because people connected to the case are perishing right and left. In this book, Grace Edwards has managed to tell a pretty darn good story and capture the rhythm of life on the streets of Harlem.-- Jill Marquis
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