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A Lizzie Stuart Mystery #2
A Dead Man's Honor
Crime historian Lizzie Stuart goes to Gallagher, Virginia for a year as a visiting professor at Piedmont State University. She is there to do research for a book about the 1921 lynching that her grandmother Hester Rose witnessed when she was a 12 year old child.
Lizzie's research is complicated by her own unresolved feelings about her secretive grandmother and by the disturbing presence of John Quinn, the police officer she met while on vacation in England. Add to that the murder of an arrogant and brilliant faculty member on Halloween night and Lizzie has about all she can handle.
- GenresMysteryCozy Mystery
218 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2001
3 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Frankie Y. Bailey
34 books69 followersWhere did you grow up?
I grew up in the country (now suburbs) about five miles outside Danville, Virginia, the "Last Capital of the Confederacy," also famous as "the bright leaf tobacco market of the world" and the home of Dan River Cotton Mills. As you might imagine, Southern history and tradition played important roles in my upbringing. The first history book I remember reading in school was about Virginia history not U.S. The first speech I ever memorized was Patrick Henry's fiery "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" - which I later recalled with some irony when I learned the truth about the founding fathers and slavery. However, I am still a proud Virginian.
I was the oldest of two children, one girl and one boy. My parents were Danville natives. When I was a child, my maternal grandmother lived with us and provided supervision while my parents were at work. My mother came from a large family, so I had a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins on her side. Some of my favorite family photos were taken at my Uncle Jimmy's house when we all gathered there on Christmas evening. My father was an only child. His father was a farmer, and even though my father worked in Dan River Mills all his life, in summers he lived for his garden and sold what he grew. (But it has still taken me years and years to learn to love collard greens. Corn bread, yes. Collard greens only recently.)
As the oldest child, I learned to be properly bossy when dealing with my younger brother. Now that we're both grown-ups (most of the time), we are able to carry on intelligent conversations and even view each other with some affection. But, as he will tell you, the nickname that I gave him when he was a toddler - and that nobody else in the world calls him - still automatically pops out of my mouth. Luckily, his wife has figured out who I mean when I call and ask to speak to "Head."
Enough about family. When did you start to write?
I don't remember when I didn't write. I was a shy child, and it was one of those things that I could do alone. In my teens, I discovered mysteries and wrote my first fan letter to a writer -- Richard Martin Stern -- who thrilled me to my toes by writing back. I even persuaded my parents to sign me up for the Famous Writers course on short stories. I never finished the course, but I did read the books they sent me on writing. I even have my graded short stories stashed away somewhere.
My "career" as a mystery writer didn't begin until after I had attended Virginia Tech. Go Hokies!!! At Tech, I started out intending to be a veterinarian, but ended up with a double major in Psychology and English. It was while I was living in Seattle and serving in the U.S. Army as a food inspector, that I began to write fiction again. My first book was a romantic suspense novel. The second was a mystery. Both went into my desk drawer, but I still have the drafts (badly typed and covered in red ink). My third book was non-fiction, and I wrote it after I had finally finished my dissertation in criminal justice a U Albany. The research for that third book, Out of the Woodpile: Black Characters in Crime and Detective Fiction, led me to mystery workshops and conferences. I begin to think again about writing mysteries. When I moved from Frankfort, Kentucky, where I was teaching, back to Albany, I joined a writing group. That was when I began to make a serious effort to write a mystery that I hoped might eventually be published.
What else do you do for fun?
Read, travel - travel every chance I get - go to movies, see friends, plan my dream house...all the usual stuff. One of these days, I intend to learn French and actually get that black belt I've always wanted in karate (if only I can find the discipline to start lessons again and this time stick with it).
I grew up in the country (now suburbs) about five miles outside Danville, Virginia, the "Last Capital of the Confederacy," also famous as "the bright leaf tobacco market of the world" and the home of Dan River Cotton Mills. As you might imagine, Southern history and tradition played important roles in my upbringing. The first history book I remember reading in school was about Virginia history not U.S. The first speech I ever memorized was Patrick Henry's fiery "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" - which I later recalled with some irony when I learned the truth about the founding fathers and slavery. However, I am still a proud Virginian.
I was the oldest of two children, one girl and one boy. My parents were Danville natives. When I was a child, my maternal grandmother lived with us and provided supervision while my parents were at work. My mother came from a large family, so I had a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins on her side. Some of my favorite family photos were taken at my Uncle Jimmy's house when we all gathered there on Christmas evening. My father was an only child. His father was a farmer, and even though my father worked in Dan River Mills all his life, in summers he lived for his garden and sold what he grew. (But it has still taken me years and years to learn to love collard greens. Corn bread, yes. Collard greens only recently.)
As the oldest child, I learned to be properly bossy when dealing with my younger brother. Now that we're both grown-ups (most of the time), we are able to carry on intelligent conversations and even view each other with some affection. But, as he will tell you, the nickname that I gave him when he was a toddler - and that nobody else in the world calls him - still automatically pops out of my mouth. Luckily, his wife has figured out who I mean when I call and ask to speak to "Head."
Enough about family. When did you start to write?
I don't remember when I didn't write. I was a shy child, and it was one of those things that I could do alone. In my teens, I discovered mysteries and wrote my first fan letter to a writer -- Richard Martin Stern -- who thrilled me to my toes by writing back. I even persuaded my parents to sign me up for the Famous Writers course on short stories. I never finished the course, but I did read the books they sent me on writing. I even have my graded short stories stashed away somewhere.
My "career" as a mystery writer didn't begin until after I had attended Virginia Tech. Go Hokies!!! At Tech, I started out intending to be a veterinarian, but ended up with a double major in Psychology and English. It was while I was living in Seattle and serving in the U.S. Army as a food inspector, that I began to write fiction again. My first book was a romantic suspense novel. The second was a mystery. Both went into my desk drawer, but I still have the drafts (badly typed and covered in red ink). My third book was non-fiction, and I wrote it after I had finally finished my dissertation in criminal justice a U Albany. The research for that third book, Out of the Woodpile: Black Characters in Crime and Detective Fiction, led me to mystery workshops and conferences. I begin to think again about writing mysteries. When I moved from Frankfort, Kentucky, where I was teaching, back to Albany, I joined a writing group. That was when I began to make a serious effort to write a mystery that I hoped might eventually be published.
What else do you do for fun?
Read, travel - travel every chance I get - go to movies, see friends, plan my dream house...all the usual stuff. One of these days, I intend to learn French and actually get that black belt I've always wanted in karate (if only I can find the discipline to start lessons again and this time stick with it).
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March 27, 2019
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A Dead Man’s Honor
A Lizzie Stuart Mystery, Book #2
By Frankie Y. Bailey
ISBN 9781628158731
Author Website: frankieybailey(.)com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
Crime historian Lizzie Stuart goes to Gallagher, Virginia for a year as a visiting professor at Piedmont State University. She is there to do research for a book about the 1921 lynching that her grandmother Hester Rose witnessed when she was a 12 year old child.
Lizzie’s research is complicated by her own unresolved feelings about her secretive grandmother and by the disturbing presence of John Quinn, the police officer she met while on vacation in England. Add to that the murder of an arrogant and brilliant faculty member on Halloween night and Lizzie has about all she can handle. (Goodreads)
Review:
What do murders and lynching from 1921 have to do with a Halloween murder today? In Gallagher, Virginia, in 1921, Officer Thomas Kincaid was shot by Mose Davenport when Kincaid and fellow police officers came to arrest Mose for the murder of Dr. Daniel Stevens. Mose was a black man who was friends with Ophelia, housekeeper for the doctor. Mose was involved with drugs and gambling. Kincaid left behind a young, pregnant wife. Mose left Ophelia behind, pregnant with his child, but not for long; Ophelia was found, hung, in her jail cell, after being arrested for being with Mose that fateful day.
Lizzie Stuart is an accomplished, tenured Criminal Justice professor in Kentucky who has been invited to teach at Piedmont State University in Gallagher as a visiting prof. Her grandmother, Hester Rose, had witnessed the lynching of Mose Davenport that long-ago day, and she never believed Mose murdered the doctor. She was only twelve years old and at Ophelia’s when the police came for Mose. Lizzie wants to learn more about it for a book she is writing, as well as the general climate of criminal justice in the post WWI years in Gallagher. This chapter of her life begins on the now-deceased Hester Rose’s birthday, Halloween.
It was an unusual day from the start. There were odd, borderline threatening items left for some of the professors in the Criminal Justice department. Professor Richard Colby is a brilliant theorist in white collar and corporate crime, recognized especially among African-American criminologists. Colby invited Lizzie to have lunch with him, and they met at Orleans Café, owned by a childhood friend of Hester Rose that Lizzie wanted to meet. Miss Alice wasn’t there, but her granddaughter Clovis, a childhood friend of Richard’s, was. They knew each other from long ago, and Clovis still called him by a childhood nickname.
Later that evening, they were among the attendees in an interactive play/ murder mystery that the theater department and School of Criminal Justice put on jointly. It looked as though Colby’s wife, a psychology professor, had an unhappy discussion with him and left, followed by another professor who appeared to have an interest in her. Quinn, the police chief for the university, chatted briefly with Lizzie. They met when both were in Cornwall, England, on vacation, and had been in minimal contact with each other since. A former homicide detective, Quinn applied for – and got – the police chief position at Piedmont not long after Lizzie accepted the opportunity to be there for a year.
After a young woman with a gun interrupted the play to threaten a grad student, the party broke up early. Richard and Lizzie went in their respective offices before they left. Lizzie heard a door slam, then the power went out. She went to see if Richard was okay, and found him dead, stabbed, in his office.
The university police invited the presence of the Gallagher police department while they did their investigation. Quinn, as the police chief, could not be involved in it because of his friendship with Lizzie, a witness and possible suspect. Lizzie is not impressed with De Angelo, the university detective, or the way he treats “Marcia, Honey” the Gallagher detective, but Quinn believes him to be a good cop.
The characters were each described well, but I didn’t feel I actually knew the characters well. I do like Lizzie; she is intelligent and cares about other people. I also liked Miss Alice and Clovis, who are loyal, loving women, despite Clovis’ volatile emotions. Miss Alice is the kind of lady I’d love to sit down with a cup of coffee and listen to! It is their honesty and vulnerability that is most attractive, even if the truth isn’t always pretty.
The complexity of the mysteries and suspects is appealing. Plot twists further make it a challenge to discover who might have killed Richard as well as Dr. Stevens in 1921. The writing is clear and detailed without wasted words or descriptions. There are clues leading to several suspects in each murder, yet I was unable to determine who the killers were. The stunning conclusion was a surprise, made sense, and resolved every open issue. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes good, clean mysteries that include history, interesting people, and a solid, challenging plot.
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
A Dead Man’s Honor
A Lizzie Stuart Mystery, Book #2
By Frankie Y. Bailey
ISBN 9781628158731
Author Website: frankieybailey(.)com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
Crime historian Lizzie Stuart goes to Gallagher, Virginia for a year as a visiting professor at Piedmont State University. She is there to do research for a book about the 1921 lynching that her grandmother Hester Rose witnessed when she was a 12 year old child.
Lizzie’s research is complicated by her own unresolved feelings about her secretive grandmother and by the disturbing presence of John Quinn, the police officer she met while on vacation in England. Add to that the murder of an arrogant and brilliant faculty member on Halloween night and Lizzie has about all she can handle. (Goodreads)
Review:
What do murders and lynching from 1921 have to do with a Halloween murder today? In Gallagher, Virginia, in 1921, Officer Thomas Kincaid was shot by Mose Davenport when Kincaid and fellow police officers came to arrest Mose for the murder of Dr. Daniel Stevens. Mose was a black man who was friends with Ophelia, housekeeper for the doctor. Mose was involved with drugs and gambling. Kincaid left behind a young, pregnant wife. Mose left Ophelia behind, pregnant with his child, but not for long; Ophelia was found, hung, in her jail cell, after being arrested for being with Mose that fateful day.
Lizzie Stuart is an accomplished, tenured Criminal Justice professor in Kentucky who has been invited to teach at Piedmont State University in Gallagher as a visiting prof. Her grandmother, Hester Rose, had witnessed the lynching of Mose Davenport that long-ago day, and she never believed Mose murdered the doctor. She was only twelve years old and at Ophelia’s when the police came for Mose. Lizzie wants to learn more about it for a book she is writing, as well as the general climate of criminal justice in the post WWI years in Gallagher. This chapter of her life begins on the now-deceased Hester Rose’s birthday, Halloween.
It was an unusual day from the start. There were odd, borderline threatening items left for some of the professors in the Criminal Justice department. Professor Richard Colby is a brilliant theorist in white collar and corporate crime, recognized especially among African-American criminologists. Colby invited Lizzie to have lunch with him, and they met at Orleans Café, owned by a childhood friend of Hester Rose that Lizzie wanted to meet. Miss Alice wasn’t there, but her granddaughter Clovis, a childhood friend of Richard’s, was. They knew each other from long ago, and Clovis still called him by a childhood nickname.
Later that evening, they were among the attendees in an interactive play/ murder mystery that the theater department and School of Criminal Justice put on jointly. It looked as though Colby’s wife, a psychology professor, had an unhappy discussion with him and left, followed by another professor who appeared to have an interest in her. Quinn, the police chief for the university, chatted briefly with Lizzie. They met when both were in Cornwall, England, on vacation, and had been in minimal contact with each other since. A former homicide detective, Quinn applied for – and got – the police chief position at Piedmont not long after Lizzie accepted the opportunity to be there for a year.
After a young woman with a gun interrupted the play to threaten a grad student, the party broke up early. Richard and Lizzie went in their respective offices before they left. Lizzie heard a door slam, then the power went out. She went to see if Richard was okay, and found him dead, stabbed, in his office.
The university police invited the presence of the Gallagher police department while they did their investigation. Quinn, as the police chief, could not be involved in it because of his friendship with Lizzie, a witness and possible suspect. Lizzie is not impressed with De Angelo, the university detective, or the way he treats “Marcia, Honey” the Gallagher detective, but Quinn believes him to be a good cop.
The characters were each described well, but I didn’t feel I actually knew the characters well. I do like Lizzie; she is intelligent and cares about other people. I also liked Miss Alice and Clovis, who are loyal, loving women, despite Clovis’ volatile emotions. Miss Alice is the kind of lady I’d love to sit down with a cup of coffee and listen to! It is their honesty and vulnerability that is most attractive, even if the truth isn’t always pretty.
The complexity of the mysteries and suspects is appealing. Plot twists further make it a challenge to discover who might have killed Richard as well as Dr. Stevens in 1921. The writing is clear and detailed without wasted words or descriptions. There are clues leading to several suspects in each murder, yet I was unable to determine who the killers were. The stunning conclusion was a surprise, made sense, and resolved every open issue. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes good, clean mysteries that include history, interesting people, and a solid, challenging plot.
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
March 18, 2019
This is a fascinating novel that includes a mystery from the past - murder of a doctor in 1921 Gallagher, VA, and the present - murder of a professor specializing in white collar and corporate crime - also in Gallagher.
Lizzie Stuart, a visiting professor at Piedmont State University in the School of Criminal Justice, was in her office late that Halloween night when Richard Colby was stabbed to death in his office. Lizzie's grandmother, Hester Rose, was living in Gallagher in 1921 and at the home of the doctor's suspected killer's girlfriend when the police arrived to lynch him. Hester Rose, only 12 at the time, left town that night and didn't return. To her dying day, however, she did not believe Mose, the man suspected in the murder of the doctor, killed him.
Lizzie is writing a book about the murder of Dr. Daniel Stevens and is researching that as well as how criminal justice was handled in Gallagher after WWI. She and Richard discussed it at lunch on that Halloween day, but he didn't share any insight regarding it.
Later that night, after the costume party/interactive play that they attended, Lizzie gave Richard a ride through the storm to his car at the School of Criminal Justice. She forgot something in her office, so he went upstairs at the same time to call his wife. When the power went out, she grabbed a flashlight and headed for Richard's office, finding him dead.
Piedmont State U has its own police force, similar to that of a small city. This police force will be primary on the investigation with Gallagher PD there to observe. The police chief is John Quinn, who Lizzie had met in England when they were each there on vacation. Since she was invited to teach at Piedmont for a year, John had applied for an opening there as police chief; his experience both in military and as a homicide detective qualified him for the job.
The plot was interesting and kept my attention throughout. The author writes with details, clearly and concisely. There are twists and turns that this reader followed closely but was still confounded as to who the real murderer might be. The ending brought definite surprises and satisfying solutions. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes a well-written mystery that is challenging to solve and brings the past and present together in a most interesting way.
From a grateful heart: I received a review copy of this mystery, and this is my honest review.
Lizzie Stuart, a visiting professor at Piedmont State University in the School of Criminal Justice, was in her office late that Halloween night when Richard Colby was stabbed to death in his office. Lizzie's grandmother, Hester Rose, was living in Gallagher in 1921 and at the home of the doctor's suspected killer's girlfriend when the police arrived to lynch him. Hester Rose, only 12 at the time, left town that night and didn't return. To her dying day, however, she did not believe Mose, the man suspected in the murder of the doctor, killed him.
Lizzie is writing a book about the murder of Dr. Daniel Stevens and is researching that as well as how criminal justice was handled in Gallagher after WWI. She and Richard discussed it at lunch on that Halloween day, but he didn't share any insight regarding it.
Later that night, after the costume party/interactive play that they attended, Lizzie gave Richard a ride through the storm to his car at the School of Criminal Justice. She forgot something in her office, so he went upstairs at the same time to call his wife. When the power went out, she grabbed a flashlight and headed for Richard's office, finding him dead.
Piedmont State U has its own police force, similar to that of a small city. This police force will be primary on the investigation with Gallagher PD there to observe. The police chief is John Quinn, who Lizzie had met in England when they were each there on vacation. Since she was invited to teach at Piedmont for a year, John had applied for an opening there as police chief; his experience both in military and as a homicide detective qualified him for the job.
The plot was interesting and kept my attention throughout. The author writes with details, clearly and concisely. There are twists and turns that this reader followed closely but was still confounded as to who the real murderer might be. The ending brought definite surprises and satisfying solutions. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes a well-written mystery that is challenging to solve and brings the past and present together in a most interesting way.
From a grateful heart: I received a review copy of this mystery, and this is my honest review.
September 24, 2018
I read this book before and after years absence, it holds up well. The main protagonist, Lizabeth Stuart is an interesting character-- smart, stubborn and filled with inner demons and doubts, that make her feel more real to the reader. Her romantic interest, former homicide detective, John Quinn, is equally as flawed but his respect for Lizzie is genuine. An interesting mystery and I recommend all of the books in this series.
September 21, 2019
A mystery in current time and mysteries from early last century tie together in Lizzie Stuart's new job as a professor of criminal history. John Quinn shows up as chief of police at this small school. Stuart is adept at finding stray threads and tracing them back to a cohesive whole. Her history, the town's history, I'm doing a bad job of explaining things. It's a really good book with lots of clues and surprising connections. Just read it.
March 12, 2021
That second installment was 1000000 times better than the first! I loved the history aspect with the effects of the past in the present and the mystery was really well developed. Lizzie is still stubborn but endearing, it was nice learning more about her family. Same thing with Quinn and his trauma. The only issue I had was that a lot of side characters were introduced at the same time so it was a bit confusing in the beginning and it was hard to tell them apart.
January 28, 2021
Good mystery, good history, perhaps a few too many subplots and characters.
September 10, 2010
Interesting murder mystery that takes place in the South in today's time but is connected to events in the past (lynching, rape, white supremecy). This was book 2 and I am wishing I had read book 1, Death's Favorite Child, first.
July 3, 2013
One of my favorites, would love to re-read if I had more time.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews