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Britt Montero #1
Contents Under Pressure
The green-eyed daughter of a Cuban patriot killed by Castro s firing squad; she has a tender spot for the city s underdogs, but is smart and tough enough to pursue a story no matter where it takes her. When cops on the midnight shift chase a black motorist, the fleeing man, a professional football hero, winds up dead. Britt s investigation reveals the tragic truth. As the city she loves explodes into a major riot, Britt is caught up in life-threatening events that bring about a shocking climax."
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First published September 3, 1992
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About the author
Edna Buchanan
55 books160 followersEdna Buchanan knew she wanted to be a writer since she was 4 years old. She moved to Florida where she got a job at a small newspaper. Ms. Buchanan became a reporter for the Miami Beach Daily Sun in the late 1960s.
In 1970, she was hired as a general assignment and police-beat reporter at the Miami Herald. In 1973, Ms. Buchanan became a police beat reporter, which coincided with the rise of Miami as a center of the international drug trade.
Winning a Pulitzer Prize, Ms. Buchanan became one of the best-known crime reporters in the U.S. She discussed some of her assignments in the books, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1991) and Never Let Them See You Cry (1993). She has retired from journalism and writes mystery novels. The main character in her crime mystery series is Britt Montero.
In 1970, she was hired as a general assignment and police-beat reporter at the Miami Herald. In 1973, Ms. Buchanan became a police beat reporter, which coincided with the rise of Miami as a center of the international drug trade.
Winning a Pulitzer Prize, Ms. Buchanan became one of the best-known crime reporters in the U.S. She discussed some of her assignments in the books, The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1991) and Never Let Them See You Cry (1993). She has retired from journalism and writes mystery novels. The main character in her crime mystery series is Britt Montero.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
September 6, 2020
A black man dies under murky circumstances at the hands of white cops. The official story is full of holes. The Blue Wall forms. Journalists find the real story, which blows apart a city where too many have heard lies for too long.
Timely, yes? In this case, it's the nutshell summary of Contents Under Pressure, the series debut of Miami journo Britt Montero, and Pulitzer Prize-winning crime journalist Edna Buchanan wrote it in 1992. Plus ça change.
D. Wayne Hudson, local ex-sports hero and a pillar of the community, ends up dead after a supposed high-speed midnight chase when he's supposedly mistaken for a fleeing felon. Britt, Our Heroine, is a crime reporter with a surplus of work already, but she's covered the dead man's good deeds and knows his widow; naturally, she pokes into the case. Equally naturally, everyone around her tells her not to go there. If you've ever read a novel in this genre or read a newspaper in the past forty years, you won't be shocked to learn that things aren't as they at first appear.
The author, a twenty-year veteran of the newspaper trade by the time she wrote this book, knows a thing or two about writing. Her prose is clear and tight and is easy to read fast. She sketches people and places with an economy bred from wordcount and column-inch budgets. Because little that appears in this book is exotic, you won't be hard-pressed to picture the action as it sweeps past. Because the author was at the time a hard-charging crime reporter for a large Miami newspaper writing about a hard-charging crime reporter for a large Miami newspaper, you can expect that the business situations -- newsrooms, police offices, crime scenes -- ring true, and the cop-and-reporter language all sounds authentic. There's a bit of a false ending that fumbles the tension built up to that point before we're launched into the final set piece; otherwise the pacing is fine.
Britt tells the story to us, and she's on every page. She's one of those series protagonists who has almost no life outside of work, running out on dates, relatives, and personal care to chase the latest disaster. She has the requisite disapproving mother (who's concerned about getting her daughter married well) and loose tribe of gal pals gathered on the job. That she's half-Cuban doesn't add much to her character other than her tastes in food-on-the-run and a somewhat more interesting choice of caffeine addictions; perhaps the author did more with it in subsequent installments. Britt's a bit intense at novel length but is otherwise decent company as she speeds through the concrete canyons to score one more interview or follow one more lead.
Sadly enough, the crimes Britt encounters haven't changed much in almost thirty years. There are fewer computers in these pages; people still hunt for pay phones; and Britt still wears pantyhose. (In Miami. In summer. Yeesh.) The main reasons you'd know right away that this story is set in the early '90s are (a) Miami Vice is still a cultural reference, and (b) the local newspaper is still robust enough to field a full reporting force and drive the local news agenda. Written now, Britt would be working freelance for Vice, tweeting like crazy, and chasing down iPhone videos.
Contents Under Pressure is a good series debut for its heroine and its milieu. If you want to read about crimebusting at the hands of someone other than semi-drunk PIs or nosy British grandmothers, or if you need your South-Florida-crime fix, Britt Montero may be worth checking out. There are nine more of these if you want more; even if you don't, you won't be disappointed with this one.
Timely, yes? In this case, it's the nutshell summary of Contents Under Pressure, the series debut of Miami journo Britt Montero, and Pulitzer Prize-winning crime journalist Edna Buchanan wrote it in 1992. Plus ça change.
D. Wayne Hudson, local ex-sports hero and a pillar of the community, ends up dead after a supposed high-speed midnight chase when he's supposedly mistaken for a fleeing felon. Britt, Our Heroine, is a crime reporter with a surplus of work already, but she's covered the dead man's good deeds and knows his widow; naturally, she pokes into the case. Equally naturally, everyone around her tells her not to go there. If you've ever read a novel in this genre or read a newspaper in the past forty years, you won't be shocked to learn that things aren't as they at first appear.
The author, a twenty-year veteran of the newspaper trade by the time she wrote this book, knows a thing or two about writing. Her prose is clear and tight and is easy to read fast. She sketches people and places with an economy bred from wordcount and column-inch budgets. Because little that appears in this book is exotic, you won't be hard-pressed to picture the action as it sweeps past. Because the author was at the time a hard-charging crime reporter for a large Miami newspaper writing about a hard-charging crime reporter for a large Miami newspaper, you can expect that the business situations -- newsrooms, police offices, crime scenes -- ring true, and the cop-and-reporter language all sounds authentic. There's a bit of a false ending that fumbles the tension built up to that point before we're launched into the final set piece; otherwise the pacing is fine.
Britt tells the story to us, and she's on every page. She's one of those series protagonists who has almost no life outside of work, running out on dates, relatives, and personal care to chase the latest disaster. She has the requisite disapproving mother (who's concerned about getting her daughter married well) and loose tribe of gal pals gathered on the job. That she's half-Cuban doesn't add much to her character other than her tastes in food-on-the-run and a somewhat more interesting choice of caffeine addictions; perhaps the author did more with it in subsequent installments. Britt's a bit intense at novel length but is otherwise decent company as she speeds through the concrete canyons to score one more interview or follow one more lead.
Sadly enough, the crimes Britt encounters haven't changed much in almost thirty years. There are fewer computers in these pages; people still hunt for pay phones; and Britt still wears pantyhose. (In Miami. In summer. Yeesh.) The main reasons you'd know right away that this story is set in the early '90s are (a) Miami Vice is still a cultural reference, and (b) the local newspaper is still robust enough to field a full reporting force and drive the local news agenda. Written now, Britt would be working freelance for Vice, tweeting like crazy, and chasing down iPhone videos.
Contents Under Pressure is a good series debut for its heroine and its milieu. If you want to read about crimebusting at the hands of someone other than semi-drunk PIs or nosy British grandmothers, or if you need your South-Florida-crime fix, Britt Montero may be worth checking out. There are nine more of these if you want more; even if you don't, you won't be disappointed with this one.
March 18, 2020
I've read many of Edna Buchanan's stories, I especially enjoyed the Britt Montero series. While I don't remember the story (I read it over twenty or probably closer to thirty years ago). I always finished eagerly anticipating what would be released next. I was sure to read it hot off the presses.
December 3, 2014
Oh happy day when you read the first in a long series and you know you'll spend the next month compulsively reading them one after another. It's what I used to do before Netflix.
November 16, 2020
A very good first book by a true-life crime reporter, this feels authentic. Reporter investigates the death of a former football star and soon realizes that something is amiss. Lots of action and the riot in Miami is truly hair-raising. Recommended.
July 14, 2017
A gripping and gritty read that paints a scarily accurate picture of modern life. The story moves at a good pace and the action keeps on coming.
Even fairly peripheral characters are given enough description to make them real and the dialogue is flawless.
Be warned, not everyone makes it out the other side of this story and it deals with some tough issues in a sensitive and sensible way.
Even fairly peripheral characters are given enough description to make them real and the dialogue is flawless.
Be warned, not everyone makes it out the other side of this story and it deals with some tough issues in a sensitive and sensible way.
October 18, 2013
Very exciting book, kind of a cross between a thriller/cozy mystery/police procedural. The main character is a tough but compassionate newspaper reporter who handles the police beat with skill. Britt Montero is a part Cuban, native Miamian, who only ever wanted to be a journalist despite her mother's attempts to get her to join her in the fashion world. Britt is very likeable, developing relationships with various cops (one in particular, a female cop working the midnight shift), other news people (photographer Lottie), and having a negative relationship with editor Gretchen. The secondary characters are enjoyable and add depth to the story. In this book, Britt follows the death of a famous football player, caught up in a situation beyond his control. I was completely surprised by the murderer, but it made sense. Britt's investigation was natural, of course, as a journalist with contacts in all the right places to discover the answers. I look forward to many more stories in this series. I think it's going to be a good one, if this first book is any indication.
Some fun descriptions in this book, for instance, "She [Lottie] looked great, her red hair ruly for a change, and swept up."
From a cop who had just returned from entering a riot zone, "I was shot in Vietnam, he whispered, "but I never saw anything like this." He shook the tears out of his eyes, gulped, and looked away. "We needed air support," he said shakily.
Some fun descriptions in this book, for instance, "She [Lottie] looked great, her red hair ruly for a change, and swept up."
From a cop who had just returned from entering a riot zone, "I was shot in Vietnam, he whispered, "but I never saw anything like this." He shook the tears out of his eyes, gulped, and looked away. "We needed air support," he said shakily.
September 12, 2009
I've read her better works. This one is intriguing, the story explains the condition of Miami journalists (the author being a former crime reporter), most especially female journalists - worse, those who're working at night. It was quite an eye-opener and somewhere along the pages I felt like watching a documentary about journalists, having a soft spot for them since I'm a journalism graduate myself. There is the mystery which Britt was trying to uncover and she deals with cops since that's her assignment. In real life the line between being a journalist and a vigilante is very thin one might not distinguish it from another. Her heroine Britt Montero is comparable to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but the latter is way better and funnier. Mystery, action, suspense and a little comedy is rolled into this novel; but sadly I wasn't eager to read it to finish it in a trice. Britt is There were dragging parts and I prefer her stand alone novels.
June 2, 2018
I can't figure out how this ended up on my to-read list, but I'm so glad it did. Fast-paced Florida noir with a tough cookie reporter, 1992 style. Smart, funny, excellent writing.
January 21, 2012
This book was a gift to me from someone who knows I like the Kinsey Milhone ABC series. I did completely enjoy the main character, Britt Montero, and her spunk and attitude did remind me of Kinsey.
I thought the "climax" was about 80 pages before the actual end of the book. It dragged a bit for me after that, but there was also a lot of interesting stuff that happened in those pages too. So, I guess it was a just a long wrap up.
I was disappointed with some bad language (which didn't start until I was like on page 83 or something). Policemen and "bad guys" use bad language sometimes. That's always a bummer.
I will definitely read another in this series and hope it doesn't get worse.
I thought the "climax" was about 80 pages before the actual end of the book. It dragged a bit for me after that, but there was also a lot of interesting stuff that happened in those pages too. So, I guess it was a just a long wrap up.
I was disappointed with some bad language (which didn't start until I was like on page 83 or something). Policemen and "bad guys" use bad language sometimes. That's always a bummer.
I will definitely read another in this series and hope it doesn't get worse.
October 31, 2014
Decided I should read these books in order so started with book 1 - fun page turner
June 18, 2019
It was okay. Went on a bit too long for my taste.
August 31, 2023
Exciting story and great characters.
September 19, 2024
Bought this having read Edna Buchanan's book The Corpse Had a Familiar Face many years ago and loved it. It was an autobiographical account of her job as a reporter on the crime beat in Miami.
This is the first in a series about a female reporter on the crime beat in Miami, Britt Montero so am pretty sure the detail is accurate. Great descriptions of Miami, not sure I'd ever want to visit!
This is the first in a series about a female reporter on the crime beat in Miami, Britt Montero so am pretty sure the detail is accurate. Great descriptions of Miami, not sure I'd ever want to visit!
June 9, 2020
CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE is the first book in Edna Buchanan's Britt Montero series. Before discussing the plot of this book, I need to mention that Edna Buchanan won a Pulitzer Prize for her work as a crime reporter at the Miami Herald in the late 1980s.
Boy, this book seems to have been taken from the pages of today's newspapers (no pun intended). The sound of the rapidly changing newsroom has the sound of reality. Our daughter was a newspaper reporter for 15 years and we saw and heard exactly the themes and concerns that she described in her daily work on a major city newspaper. The book is only dated by the means of communication the reporters used in this book -- pay phones and pagers. Otherwise, everything is accurate.
D. Wayne Hudson, a retired football hero and local city "good guy" dies after a chase away from police. When Montero is working on the story, she notices that the police are wary and the facts on the reports don't jive with what seems to have happened. Eventually, Montero breaks the story that points to police brutality. However, it is brutality with a horrible twist. The action is continuous and I couldn't put the book down. It is a great story; I look forward to her next stories.
Britt Montero Series
** 1.Contents Under Pressure (1992)
2. Miami, It's Murder (1994)
3.Suitable for Framing (1995)
Boy, this book seems to have been taken from the pages of today's newspapers (no pun intended). The sound of the rapidly changing newsroom has the sound of reality. Our daughter was a newspaper reporter for 15 years and we saw and heard exactly the themes and concerns that she described in her daily work on a major city newspaper. The book is only dated by the means of communication the reporters used in this book -- pay phones and pagers. Otherwise, everything is accurate.
D. Wayne Hudson, a retired football hero and local city "good guy" dies after a chase away from police. When Montero is working on the story, she notices that the police are wary and the facts on the reports don't jive with what seems to have happened. Eventually, Montero breaks the story that points to police brutality. However, it is brutality with a horrible twist. The action is continuous and I couldn't put the book down. It is a great story; I look forward to her next stories.
Britt Montero Series
** 1.Contents Under Pressure (1992)
2. Miami, It's Murder (1994)
3.Suitable for Framing (1995)
July 18, 2019
I was drawn to this series because it was set in Miami, and the protagonist is a reporter for a large Miami daily newspaper. My father was Sports Editor of a large Miami newspaper during my high school years so I was curious how the author would deal with the newspaper world and the community.
Britt Montero is intrepid beyond belief and Buchanan has infused her with a great sense of humor and self-awareness. Those qualities in her heroine kept me reading, but the police procedural aspect of the book bogged me down. The storyline was interesting, and unbelievably current considering the book was written more than 25 years ago, but it is a darker, more violent kind of novel than I find appealing.
Buchanan's book is full of action and community conflict -- it was a very different Miami than the one that I knew and I found it difficult to relate to. (I later moved to Detroit and this felt much more like Detroit than my Miami).
Britt Montero is intrepid beyond belief and Buchanan has infused her with a great sense of humor and self-awareness. Those qualities in her heroine kept me reading, but the police procedural aspect of the book bogged me down. The storyline was interesting, and unbelievably current considering the book was written more than 25 years ago, but it is a darker, more violent kind of novel than I find appealing.
Buchanan's book is full of action and community conflict -- it was a very different Miami than the one that I knew and I found it difficult to relate to. (I later moved to Detroit and this felt much more like Detroit than my Miami).
February 18, 2015
This is the first in a series about Britt Montero, a Cuban-Angelo journalist. She is working for a Miami newspaper covering the police beat so she is always there when a crime is committed. She has many connections on the force and the streets. There is a love interest that is beginning in book one. Of course there is a mother who doesn't like that her daughter has this unfeminine career and also doesn't like the way she dresses. The mother is hoping for her daughter to meet a nice man and settle down. Author Edna Buchanan was a newspaper journalist for the Miami Herald and won the Pulitzer Prize for her news stories so she is in the perfect position to write these mystery novels. Even with the topics Buchanan picks for her plots these are still a fun light read that goes grabs your attention and reads quickly.
Read
January 31, 2016I found this book to be totally average. I had loaded it onto my Nook for "a rainy day" or a vacation...which was when I read it - on the road to our destination where I would be able to borrow books rom the local library. I hadn't noticed that it was written in 1982 when I bought it, and except for the lack of technology...still using beepers and looking madly for pay phones...it could have been written today. White cops wrongly arresting and beating black citizens, and black citizens rioting over the acquittal of white police officers accused of killing a black sports figure...and this was way before OJ. This was the first installment of a new protagonist - I didn't know that either, so the romantic lead was a one-book-wonder. If asked, I would tell anyone to read something else - there is plenty of really good stuff out there!
June 12, 2018
A blurb on another author's book jacket touting Edna Buchanan got me started on this book, the first in a series about Britt Montero, a thirtyish police beat reporter on a Miami newspaper. A story about a cover-up for police brutality lands in her lap and she refuses to drop it even when a police detective she really likes asks her to. This book is so thrilling, the pages will just fly by as you read faster to find out what happens.
September 27, 2019
Fun mystery by America's best crime reporter. Best parts for me are where Buchanan incorporates incidents or anecdotes that clearly come from her own experience. Also amused by her shots at newspaper editors and managers. " Death to deskers, Sister!"
July 26, 2017
I love Edna Buchanan's Britt Montero Mystery! I read this series when it first came out and this my second reading of this book. Very enjoyable.
January 5, 2018
Very enjoyable - characters are well developed and realistic, story is quite engrossing, humor is really humorous. Particularly enjoyed the painless history lesson as part of the story.
January 25, 2019
Edna Buchanan is a real Florida treasure! Her books always include exciting and realistic Miami characters. Love Britt!
June 22, 2019
Great suspense read! Well written and witty! A nice escape with well developed chatacters.
November 25, 2024
A good mystery written by a real reporter who worked the police beat in Miami for 15 years and won a Pulitzer.
I think I forgot how bad sexism was then. I was raised thinking I could do anything. That’s what the world was telling 70s kids. But the workforce sure didn’t reflect that when this was written 1992. Britt’s own workplace and the police she worked with were majorly problematic. On the other hand, the dated tech and such, such as when the first sentence refers to a patrolman using a “walkie.“ wasn’t a problem for me. As I just said to a friend, historical books and shows are so popular now in part because it was harder to do stuff then. Communication used to be hard! And info was hard to come by. No instant fingerprint matches, for example.
In regard to the story, it starts with a police report about guns at a school and Britt gets chills. This was seven years before Columbine. And the story here isn’t actually a shooting, thank goodness. A woman is abducted when dropping off her kids. Bad enough. And Nicole Brown Simpson was killed 1994 so this is before that too, in reference to Miami cops car chase with popular, handsome Black football star D. Wayne Hudson.
I found the racism and misogyny upsetting like I did when I tried to watch The West Wing twenty years after it came out, because all of the problems still exist, nothing has changed. Early West Wing stories could easily have been from 2020 not 2000. And this 1992 book is about over-harsh policing because of steroids, same story as how Tyre Nichols died this year or NYC police are suing the mayor to ALLOW steroid use. WTF? Nothing has changed in 30 years except gotten worse. But I guess all of that makes it still relevant, in addition to being a decent tale. I like stories about good reporters and good cops, learning about their processes and thinking. It’s nice to remember that most people are trying hard to do a good job for their communities. As a former reporter, she really knows how the sausage is made in the newsroom, police station and community.
I think I forgot how bad sexism was then. I was raised thinking I could do anything. That’s what the world was telling 70s kids. But the workforce sure didn’t reflect that when this was written 1992. Britt’s own workplace and the police she worked with were majorly problematic. On the other hand, the dated tech and such, such as when the first sentence refers to a patrolman using a “walkie.“ wasn’t a problem for me. As I just said to a friend, historical books and shows are so popular now in part because it was harder to do stuff then. Communication used to be hard! And info was hard to come by. No instant fingerprint matches, for example.
In regard to the story, it starts with a police report about guns at a school and Britt gets chills. This was seven years before Columbine. And the story here isn’t actually a shooting, thank goodness. A woman is abducted when dropping off her kids. Bad enough. And Nicole Brown Simpson was killed 1994 so this is before that too, in reference to Miami cops car chase with popular, handsome Black football star D. Wayne Hudson.
I found the racism and misogyny upsetting like I did when I tried to watch The West Wing twenty years after it came out, because all of the problems still exist, nothing has changed. Early West Wing stories could easily have been from 2020 not 2000. And this 1992 book is about over-harsh policing because of steroids, same story as how Tyre Nichols died this year or NYC police are suing the mayor to ALLOW steroid use. WTF? Nothing has changed in 30 years except gotten worse. But I guess all of that makes it still relevant, in addition to being a decent tale. I like stories about good reporters and good cops, learning about their processes and thinking. It’s nice to remember that most people are trying hard to do a good job for their communities. As a former reporter, she really knows how the sausage is made in the newsroom, police station and community.
March 9, 2025
Britt Montero, a blond, green-eyed Cuban American woman, doesn’t have boring days on her job. She’s a reporter for one of the Miami papers, and Buchanan wrote this 30 years ago when working for a newspaper still meant something besides a layoff. She expresses her dislike of TV reporters early in the book, and that endeared her to me immediately. I had similar feelings back in the ‘80s when I worked for a newspaper. This feels authentic, and sadly, the day in which she lived is eternally gone. She waxes eloquent here about the permanence of newspapers, and I shook my head in wonder at the media landscape changes in 30 years.
As the book open, Britt chases a story of a gunman who separated a mother from her elementary-school-aged daughters and forced the woman to drive to a specific location at gunpoint. When he arrived, he exited her car, and she returned to the school.
Then, word came down that a much-beloved NFL player and former Miami Hurricane quarterback died, and the death looks suspicious.
This is a gripping first book in a series that features a newspaper reporter and a great mystery that involves the dead quarterback and a gang of rogue cops.
I finished this on an uninterrupted Saturday night, and I had no problem staying awake and engaged to the back cover. I’ve downloaded all the other books in the series as well.
As the book open, Britt chases a story of a gunman who separated a mother from her elementary-school-aged daughters and forced the woman to drive to a specific location at gunpoint. When he arrived, he exited her car, and she returned to the school.
Then, word came down that a much-beloved NFL player and former Miami Hurricane quarterback died, and the death looks suspicious.
This is a gripping first book in a series that features a newspaper reporter and a great mystery that involves the dead quarterback and a gang of rogue cops.
I finished this on an uninterrupted Saturday night, and I had no problem staying awake and engaged to the back cover. I’ve downloaded all the other books in the series as well.
January 15, 2025
Excellent and exciting. Our intrepid reporter on the crime beat, Britt actually works for a real newspaper. There is no social media and no cell phones. She has to get out on the street to cover stories.
The main story here is about a beloved athlete, African American, who has done great things for his community. He ends up dead at the hands of police officers. A case of mistaken identity. Britt reveals the whole thing, but they are acquitted. Very tense in the city. She also find out that there was a conspiracy behind the entire assault. The man was set up to be assaulted by an assistant chief in the hopes that the police chief would have to resign and he could get the job.
Great story. I did want to know if the bad cops got their jobs back, but I had to be satisfied that they were being watched in the night shift.
The main story here is about a beloved athlete, African American, who has done great things for his community. He ends up dead at the hands of police officers. A case of mistaken identity. Britt reveals the whole thing, but they are acquitted. Very tense in the city. She also find out that there was a conspiracy behind the entire assault. The man was set up to be assaulted by an assistant chief in the hopes that the police chief would have to resign and he could get the job.
Great story. I did want to know if the bad cops got their jobs back, but I had to be satisfied that they were being watched in the night shift.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2025
A 3.5 but I'm rounding up because at times, it was genuinely harrowing.
Britt Montero was a reporter in the 1990s, and in many ways this is a quaint time capsule: She worked for a major Miami daily newspaper, back when everyone had a newspaper delivered to their front porch and really read it. She has a beeper, uses phone booths and has to rely on phone books. Her mother smokes at the table when they meet for lunch.
But it's also timeless. A black man is pulled over and beaten by Cuban and white cops and the city is on edge. Edna Buchanan does a good job at placing us in Miami. There's a plot twist at the end that I truly did not see coming and held my interest. The last quarter of the book moves very fast. But two of the characters – Britt's mother and Gretchen, her evil editor – are cartoons.
Britt Montero was a reporter in the 1990s, and in many ways this is a quaint time capsule: She worked for a major Miami daily newspaper, back when everyone had a newspaper delivered to their front porch and really read it. She has a beeper, uses phone booths and has to rely on phone books. Her mother smokes at the table when they meet for lunch.
But it's also timeless. A black man is pulled over and beaten by Cuban and white cops and the city is on edge. Edna Buchanan does a good job at placing us in Miami. There's a plot twist at the end that I truly did not see coming and held my interest. The last quarter of the book moves very fast. But two of the characters – Britt's mother and Gretchen, her evil editor – are cartoons.
October 6, 2024
Buchanan's Britt Montero Reports from Miami
Edna Buchanan was a Pulitzer Prize winning crime reporter with the Miami Herald for many years. It is this not surprising that her reporter protagonist Britt Montero always sounds and feels real. Buchanan actually lived the life she depicts fictionally and so it rings true. The riots described so vividly in Contents Under Pressure reflect the riots following the tea McDuffie trial in Miami. The police brutality and political corruption in the department all had their Birth in headline stories from the Herald. For those of us who have lived in and loved Miami reading a novel by Edna Buchanan is a trip down memory lane.
Edna Buchanan was a Pulitzer Prize winning crime reporter with the Miami Herald for many years. It is this not surprising that her reporter protagonist Britt Montero always sounds and feels real. Buchanan actually lived the life she depicts fictionally and so it rings true. The riots described so vividly in Contents Under Pressure reflect the riots following the tea McDuffie trial in Miami. The police brutality and political corruption in the department all had their Birth in headline stories from the Herald. For those of us who have lived in and loved Miami reading a novel by Edna Buchanan is a trip down memory lane.
December 19, 2024
This is the first book in the series about Britt Montero, a newspaper reporter who covers the Miami police beat for her newspaper. With her faithful friend, photographer Lottie, they are delving into some of the most dangerous crimes in Miami. Police corruption, use of force, and racism complaints are part of the picture, and although this is not a new book, those problems are still front and center, at least in my local community in a mid-large size city. There are no easy answers. This is an interesting series though, and I will read more. There is a bit of spicy romance, just to make you aware for people that prefer a straight-up mystery.
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