Description:
There's lots of Southern honesty and grit on display in Nora DeLoach's latest book about Atlanta-based paralegal Simone Covington and her mother, a social worker in Otis, South Carolina, who can't help getting involved in murders. Mama Candi (named for her golden complexion, like candied yams) might appear to be cozy and comfortable on the surface--ready to whip up a splendid meal or quiet a crying child at a moment's notice--but underneath she's as tough and sharp-edged in her own way as her urban daughter. "She was a tall girl whose head strutted two sets of weave," says Simone about Cricket Childs. Mama Candi elaborates: "Her complexion was mocha and her green dress fit her body like a wet suit. Cricket had a good figure except for a narrow behind that stuck out like a wad of chewing gum." Mama might have been somewhat less acerbic in her description, especially after Cricket is found dead and her baby girl missing. But both the Covington women are tough and shrewd survivors of a society that tries to force women, particularly African Americans, into molds. Other adventures of the Covington women include Mama Stalks the Past, Mama Traps a Killer, Mama Saves a Victim, and Mama Stands Accused. --Dick Adler
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