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Blanche White #3
Blanche Cleans Up
“Barbara Neely’s skill is a force to be reckoned with!” Essence Magazine The third, ground-breaking mystery featuring African-American maid and amateur sleuth Blanche White by Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award winning author Barbara Neely, the 2020 Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Blanche White is working as a temporary cook and housekeeper for a right-wing, Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Alistair Brindle when someone tries to blackmail him. It’s an ugly mess that Brindle’s political team is eager to sweep under the carpet and that Blanche can’t resist cleaning up herself…especially after a young black man is killed who knew too much about Brindle’s dirty laundry. Her investigation raises dark secrets involving sex, environmental contamination, and political corruption, difficult stains on the white, conservative Brindle family that someone is trying to remove with murder. “It’s a case that plays beautifully to the strengths Blanche showed in her first two poking around, getting underfoot, and displaying maximum attitude as she solves the tiny mystery en route to sticking it to the Man. The title says it all,” Kirkus Reviews “Blanche's voice is sassy and sexy, and her take on urban life through African American eyes is blade-sharp and sometimes as cutting,” Booklist “One is tempted to describe Blanche White as a combination of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins…but it would be a crime to suggest she is anything less than a truly original creation,” Los Angeles Times
323 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1998
110 people are currently reading
739 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Neely
9 books293 followersBarbara Neely was a novelist, short story writer, and author of the popular Blanche White mystery novels. The first book in this series, BLANCHE ON THE LAM, won the Agatha, the Macavity, and the Anthony -- three of the four major mystery awards for best first novel -- as well as the Go On Girl! Book Club award for a debut novel. The subsequent books in the series, BLANCHE AMONG THE TALENTED TENTH, BLANCHE CLEANS UP and BLANCHE PASSES GO have also received critical acclaim from both fans and literary critics. Books in the Blanche White series have been taught in courses at universities as varied as Howard University, Northwestern, Bryn Mawr, Old Dominion, Boston College, Appalachian State University, Washington State University and Guttenberg University in Mainz, Germany. Books in the series have been translated into French, German and Japanese.
Neely’s short stories have appeared in anthologies, magazines, university texts, and journals including: Things that divide us, Speaking for Ourselves, Constellations, Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience, Breaking Ice, Essence, and Obsidian II.
Ms. Neely has also had an extensive public sector career. She designed and directed the first community-based corrections facility for women in Pennsylvania, directed a branch of the YWCA, and headed a consultant firm for non-profits. She was part of an evaluative research team at the Institute for Social Research, the Executive Director of Women for Economic Justice, and a radio producer for Africa News Service. For her activism Neely has received the Community Works Social Action Award for Leadership and Activism for Women's Rights and Economic Justice, and the Fighting for Women's Voices Award from the Coalition for Basic Human Needs.
Series:
* Blanche White
Neely’s short stories have appeared in anthologies, magazines, university texts, and journals including: Things that divide us, Speaking for Ourselves, Constellations, Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience, Breaking Ice, Essence, and Obsidian II.
Ms. Neely has also had an extensive public sector career. She designed and directed the first community-based corrections facility for women in Pennsylvania, directed a branch of the YWCA, and headed a consultant firm for non-profits. She was part of an evaluative research team at the Institute for Social Research, the Executive Director of Women for Economic Justice, and a radio producer for Africa News Service. For her activism Neely has received the Community Works Social Action Award for Leadership and Activism for Women's Rights and Economic Justice, and the Fighting for Women's Voices Award from the Coalition for Basic Human Needs.
Series:
* Blanche White
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
October 18, 2019
The other day I was thinking about what a mystery story would be like if the main character wasn't an investigator, or an ex-cop, or a rich person with a penchant for trouble. What would a story be like, I wondered, if someone found themselves in it, so to speak? And then along comes Blanche Cleans Up to answer my question.
Blanche White has been working as a household domestic and has recently moved with her sister's two children up to Boston from South Carolina. As a favor to a cousin, she agrees to temporarily replace Miz Inez as the housekeeper-cook for the wealthy Brindles so Miz Inez can vacation with Cousin Charlotte.
Although there are two Blanche books before this one, here is where Neely really hits her mystery stride. It's more complicated than prior mysteries, although parts are perhaps a little passé, coming from the perspective of 1998. Maybe not. But still, it is good. It reads quickly and is moderately suspenseful.
"Blanche always called her employers ma'am and sir to their faces. It put just the right amount of distance between them and her and was good cover when she couldn't remember their names."
What's really the most enjoyable here is Blanche. Her reflections on the social dynamics at the house of her temporary employers, her efforts to provide a safe environment for her kids, her participation and support of black women and the larger Black community; as she goes about these things, the reader experiences them with her, and occasionally even learn with her. There's quite a diversity of experiences and thoughts, and if there's a social message that may seem a little heavily applied at times, it doesn't last long, or it is balanced out with humor or interesting characters.
I recognize's Blanche's tendency to 'poke the bear,' as we used to call it, in one of her interactions with another worker at the Brindle's:
"'I don't get it,' Blanche said. 'You Christians say god made everything and everybody, which has gotta include lesbians. But then you say lesbians are ungodly. Seems to me that you, your pastor, or your God is very confused, honey.'
Carrie looked at her as though Blanche had just grown horns. 'I'm gonna put you in my prayers.' She hurried away to the laundry room and closed the door firmly behind her. Blanche could hear her shrieking some hymn about being delivered from the heathen. It was so tuneless and off-key, Blanche suspect Carrie had made it up for her benefit."
I can't help but chuckle a little at her obstinacy. But she keeps working at building a relationship as well as opening Carrie's mind to positive acquaintance-ship, if nothing else.
She ends up getting a resolution to the various puzzles she encounters not because she's determined necessarily to solve a mystery, but because she wants to help a friend, or to make things right. A quick read with a lot of broad insight into what life might be like for an empowered woman of color. Recommended.
Trish's review has a lot of interesting insight as well as some information and links about Neely: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Three and a half stars, rounding up
Blanche White has been working as a household domestic and has recently moved with her sister's two children up to Boston from South Carolina. As a favor to a cousin, she agrees to temporarily replace Miz Inez as the housekeeper-cook for the wealthy Brindles so Miz Inez can vacation with Cousin Charlotte.
Although there are two Blanche books before this one, here is where Neely really hits her mystery stride. It's more complicated than prior mysteries, although parts are perhaps a little passé, coming from the perspective of 1998. Maybe not. But still, it is good. It reads quickly and is moderately suspenseful.
"Blanche always called her employers ma'am and sir to their faces. It put just the right amount of distance between them and her and was good cover when she couldn't remember their names."
What's really the most enjoyable here is Blanche. Her reflections on the social dynamics at the house of her temporary employers, her efforts to provide a safe environment for her kids, her participation and support of black women and the larger Black community; as she goes about these things, the reader experiences them with her, and occasionally even learn with her. There's quite a diversity of experiences and thoughts, and if there's a social message that may seem a little heavily applied at times, it doesn't last long, or it is balanced out with humor or interesting characters.
I recognize's Blanche's tendency to 'poke the bear,' as we used to call it, in one of her interactions with another worker at the Brindle's:
"'I don't get it,' Blanche said. 'You Christians say god made everything and everybody, which has gotta include lesbians. But then you say lesbians are ungodly. Seems to me that you, your pastor, or your God is very confused, honey.'
Carrie looked at her as though Blanche had just grown horns. 'I'm gonna put you in my prayers.' She hurried away to the laundry room and closed the door firmly behind her. Blanche could hear her shrieking some hymn about being delivered from the heathen. It was so tuneless and off-key, Blanche suspect Carrie had made it up for her benefit."
I can't help but chuckle a little at her obstinacy. But she keeps working at building a relationship as well as opening Carrie's mind to positive acquaintance-ship, if nothing else.
She ends up getting a resolution to the various puzzles she encounters not because she's determined necessarily to solve a mystery, but because she wants to help a friend, or to make things right. A quick read with a lot of broad insight into what life might be like for an empowered woman of color. Recommended.
Trish's review has a lot of interesting insight as well as some information and links about Neely: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Three and a half stars, rounding up
April 4, 2020
EXCELLENT!!! Each book gets better and better. So sad that there's only one left. I highly recommend this series. Barbara Neely writing of this series is nothing shorter than perfection!
May 20, 2015
Barbara Neely only wrote four Blanche books, but each one addresses issues central to life in America, and highlights the effect of these issues on the lives of America’s black folk. Blanche White, name notwithstanding, is a large woman with skin "on the extreme edge of blackness" and works as a "domestic." If you ever wanted to know what your maid or cook was thinking when they answered "Yes, Ma'm" with eyes cut off to the side, you're going to get your chance here. This woman is going to surprise and delight you. She has smarts and attitude to burn, and she has got three teens to take care of--so don't waste her time, sit down, and let her tell you how it plays.
Blanche struggles to navigate a dangerous world that doesn’t concern itself with her needs or those of her family. She is an amateur sleuth, which gives her plenty of latitude to indulge her curiosity about other people's lives. She is wily, but she is also strong and salty, blunt and clear. She is funny. She is an indispensable guide to looking at and discussing critical matters of concern to all Americans with regard to issues of race and class in our racially diverse neighborhoods. Neely chooses important social issues and has big black Blanche tell us all about sensitive issues she faces every day.
The Blanche novels are classified as mystery, but the murders are not the most interesting thing about this series. In this novel, what pins us to the page is what Blanche thinks about as she goes about her day as a cook in the household of a wealthy Boston couple, one of whom has put in his bid to be governor. There is plenty of intrigue surrounding the death of two young black men who used to work at the house, and then there is the death of a woman famous in her Roxbury neighborhood for knowing everything about everyone. The mystery "who-done-it" is a vehicle for Blanche to air her concerns.
Those concerns include protecting her family from the corrosion of bad influences, either from the sense of entitlement white and/or wealthy people have as a birthright, but also from the bottom-feeders in her own mostly black neighborhood. There is plenty of danger everywhere—from lead poisoning, for instance—and Blanche has got her hands full keeping body and soul together and caring for three teens. What struck me about the murders is that though two young black men and a black woman are killed, the official investigations never came close to discovering the culprit(s). Blanche did her own investigations but never considered bringing what she learned to the police. Eventually the culprits were brought down by wrongdoing in another arena.
Blanche has a refreshing intellectual honesty. She feels jealousy, rage, hurt, but she works it out on the page, expressing feelings we've all had, and working it around until she admits she may have gone too far, or should be less possessive, or that she can't control what other people think or decide to do. She also expresses feelings of love, lust, and tenderness and can tell the difference between them.
The Blanche books were originally published by Penguin Books in the 1990s, and are now being reissued in ebook format by Brash Books. The third book in the series is just out in Kindle format with the fourth due in August this year. Those who want to be reacquainted with the smart and salty tongue of Blanche in Boston need wait no longer but can start reading today.
Author Barbara Neely has a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh and set up a community-based housing program for female felons in an area of Pittsburgh called Shady Side. She knows all about poor choices and failures of will. She knows what despair looks like. Somehow she keeps her sense of humor, and shares it with us in the Blanche books.
Diana Reese writing for The Washington Post published a review of the Blanche books and portions of an interview with Barbara Neely in January 2015. And the U.S. Embassy in Prague conducted a video interview of Barbara Neely on the occasion of the books being translated into Czech by high schoolers. The covers of those translations are especially fabulous.
Blanche struggles to navigate a dangerous world that doesn’t concern itself with her needs or those of her family. She is an amateur sleuth, which gives her plenty of latitude to indulge her curiosity about other people's lives. She is wily, but she is also strong and salty, blunt and clear. She is funny. She is an indispensable guide to looking at and discussing critical matters of concern to all Americans with regard to issues of race and class in our racially diverse neighborhoods. Neely chooses important social issues and has big black Blanche tell us all about sensitive issues she faces every day.
The Blanche novels are classified as mystery, but the murders are not the most interesting thing about this series. In this novel, what pins us to the page is what Blanche thinks about as she goes about her day as a cook in the household of a wealthy Boston couple, one of whom has put in his bid to be governor. There is plenty of intrigue surrounding the death of two young black men who used to work at the house, and then there is the death of a woman famous in her Roxbury neighborhood for knowing everything about everyone. The mystery "who-done-it" is a vehicle for Blanche to air her concerns.
Those concerns include protecting her family from the corrosion of bad influences, either from the sense of entitlement white and/or wealthy people have as a birthright, but also from the bottom-feeders in her own mostly black neighborhood. There is plenty of danger everywhere—from lead poisoning, for instance—and Blanche has got her hands full keeping body and soul together and caring for three teens. What struck me about the murders is that though two young black men and a black woman are killed, the official investigations never came close to discovering the culprit(s). Blanche did her own investigations but never considered bringing what she learned to the police. Eventually the culprits were brought down by wrongdoing in another arena.
Blanche has a refreshing intellectual honesty. She feels jealousy, rage, hurt, but she works it out on the page, expressing feelings we've all had, and working it around until she admits she may have gone too far, or should be less possessive, or that she can't control what other people think or decide to do. She also expresses feelings of love, lust, and tenderness and can tell the difference between them.
“She’d stopped expecting life to be fair when she was about eight years old and had yet to be proven wrong. Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to even things out a bit.”
The Blanche books were originally published by Penguin Books in the 1990s, and are now being reissued in ebook format by Brash Books. The third book in the series is just out in Kindle format with the fourth due in August this year. Those who want to be reacquainted with the smart and salty tongue of Blanche in Boston need wait no longer but can start reading today.
Author Barbara Neely has a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh and set up a community-based housing program for female felons in an area of Pittsburgh called Shady Side. She knows all about poor choices and failures of will. She knows what despair looks like. Somehow she keeps her sense of humor, and shares it with us in the Blanche books.
Diana Reese writing for The Washington Post published a review of the Blanche books and portions of an interview with Barbara Neely in January 2015. And the U.S. Embassy in Prague conducted a video interview of Barbara Neely on the occasion of the books being translated into Czech by high schoolers. The covers of those translations are especially fabulous.
September 4, 2019
“I know I can depend on you, Blanche. Taifa told me about how you helped that lady up there in Maine and that white boy down home. I know you’ll do as much for your old friend.”
Blanche is a domestic, middle-aged and black. She works for “white folks.” In this third book, she has brought her two children to Boston and lives in the Roxbury section.
Helping the white folk may be her day job but, “She liked sticking her nose in where it wasn’t supposed to be and finding out things other people didn’t want her to know. She liked doing this the way some people liked jogging or dancing or going to the mall.”
Blanche cooks for the Brindles and supervises the other day help. She is only doing this for a friend of a relative who wants Inez to be able to go on a short vacation. The Brindles, only the middle-aged husband and wife, are likely in the upper 0.1% of Boston society and their house reflects their status and pretentions. Neely gives Mr. Brindle political ambitions, which allows her to provide social commentary on this aspect of American life.
There is plenty of savory sauce delivered with the meat and potatoes of the plot. In fact, that’s probably why you are going to read this book. For example: “It was amazing how simpleminded some black men could be about whitefolks. What happened to all that mother with that helped them survive more than three hundred years in a cold, cruel country?” And: “Just ‘cause you stop pissing in midstream when your lord and master calls don’t mean I’m going to rupture my lungs running down the hall.”
Neely never uses the term “African-American” or even “Afro-American.” She has plenty to say about both whites and blacks, much of it wry humor. But at other times, she digs down into some of the deepest issues and provides some incisive commentary: “She looked at Pookie and saw him --- not as some swaggering teeny thug who was a threat to everything she was trying to teach Malik, but as somebody’s child. Yes, he had an attitude; yes, he was involved in dangerous shit; but all he was doing was what was expected of him in a country that loved young men like him on the basketball court and in concert and spit hate in their faces everywhere else. Pookie was just trying to be exactly who America told him he was: everybody’s worst nightmare. What she hadn’t thought about before was that Pookie and boys like him might be even more afraid of what they were becoming than the people who labeled them.”
And ---
“Where were all these lazy, shiftless, don’t-want-to-work black folks politicians and newspapers were always going on about? All around, there were street vendors selling everything from incense to …. Making work, she thought; doing what poor black people did to get money enough to get by. She’d read there’d been a lot of jobs created in Boston. What they didn’t say was who had gotten those jobs…The last time black people had full employment in America was during slavery.”
There is a death. This gives Blanche an opportunity to investigate. Various characters become entwined and Blanche has to sort through it as if separating out all the dirty laundry from her adolescent son, daughter and niece who are living with her.
Her characters are Neely’s strength. They represent many walks of life and their interactions are often fascinating. The plot is not the most attractive part of this insightful novel, but it is quite adequate to make this an entertaining read.
3.5*
Blanche is a domestic, middle-aged and black. She works for “white folks.” In this third book, she has brought her two children to Boston and lives in the Roxbury section.
Helping the white folk may be her day job but, “She liked sticking her nose in where it wasn’t supposed to be and finding out things other people didn’t want her to know. She liked doing this the way some people liked jogging or dancing or going to the mall.”
Blanche cooks for the Brindles and supervises the other day help. She is only doing this for a friend of a relative who wants Inez to be able to go on a short vacation. The Brindles, only the middle-aged husband and wife, are likely in the upper 0.1% of Boston society and their house reflects their status and pretentions. Neely gives Mr. Brindle political ambitions, which allows her to provide social commentary on this aspect of American life.
There is plenty of savory sauce delivered with the meat and potatoes of the plot. In fact, that’s probably why you are going to read this book. For example: “It was amazing how simpleminded some black men could be about whitefolks. What happened to all that mother with that helped them survive more than three hundred years in a cold, cruel country?” And: “Just ‘cause you stop pissing in midstream when your lord and master calls don’t mean I’m going to rupture my lungs running down the hall.”
Neely never uses the term “African-American” or even “Afro-American.” She has plenty to say about both whites and blacks, much of it wry humor. But at other times, she digs down into some of the deepest issues and provides some incisive commentary: “She looked at Pookie and saw him --- not as some swaggering teeny thug who was a threat to everything she was trying to teach Malik, but as somebody’s child. Yes, he had an attitude; yes, he was involved in dangerous shit; but all he was doing was what was expected of him in a country that loved young men like him on the basketball court and in concert and spit hate in their faces everywhere else. Pookie was just trying to be exactly who America told him he was: everybody’s worst nightmare. What she hadn’t thought about before was that Pookie and boys like him might be even more afraid of what they were becoming than the people who labeled them.”
And ---
“Where were all these lazy, shiftless, don’t-want-to-work black folks politicians and newspapers were always going on about? All around, there were street vendors selling everything from incense to …. Making work, she thought; doing what poor black people did to get money enough to get by. She’d read there’d been a lot of jobs created in Boston. What they didn’t say was who had gotten those jobs…The last time black people had full employment in America was during slavery.”
There is a death. This gives Blanche an opportunity to investigate. Various characters become entwined and Blanche has to sort through it as if separating out all the dirty laundry from her adolescent son, daughter and niece who are living with her.
Her characters are Neely’s strength. They represent many walks of life and their interactions are often fascinating. The plot is not the most attractive part of this insightful novel, but it is quite adequate to make this an entertaining read.
3.5*
April 1, 2017
This is the third of the Blanche White detective series of books, and the first where all the fictional elements (plot, character, dialogue, pacing) all come together. Blanche has moved to Boston with her two teenage charges, and is struggling to bring them up safely in an inner-city neighbourhood. She is working at a politician's mansion when murder strikes. Blanche is quickly drawn into a plot involving blackmail, sex scandals, and her own life is soon in danger.
Neely hits her stride in this book: the tension is slowly ratcheted up, the action sequences are breathtaking, and the multiple plot strands are seamlessly combined. As always, social issues are deftly illustrated: sexism in the black church, teenage pregnancy, vigilante justice, political corruption. One of my great pleasures in the Blanche series is how Blanche deliberately annoys her racist employers, and then stands back to watch the results:
"Blanche had never seen anyone's eyes get bloodshot while she watched. Could she make him froth at the mouth next?"
She is undaunted by the racism and sexism she endures, and lives life with humour, tolerance, and energy. Blanche is one of my favourite fictional creations. I would gladly sit down for a gin and tonic with Ms White.
Thank you Trish for bringing the Blanche series to my attention. I'm tempted to start stalking Barbara Neely to find our when, or if, the next Blanche book will emerge.
Neely hits her stride in this book: the tension is slowly ratcheted up, the action sequences are breathtaking, and the multiple plot strands are seamlessly combined. As always, social issues are deftly illustrated: sexism in the black church, teenage pregnancy, vigilante justice, political corruption. One of my great pleasures in the Blanche series is how Blanche deliberately annoys her racist employers, and then stands back to watch the results:
"Blanche had never seen anyone's eyes get bloodshot while she watched. Could she make him froth at the mouth next?"
She is undaunted by the racism and sexism she endures, and lives life with humour, tolerance, and energy. Blanche is one of my favourite fictional creations. I would gladly sit down for a gin and tonic with Ms White.
Thank you Trish for bringing the Blanche series to my attention. I'm tempted to start stalking Barbara Neely to find our when, or if, the next Blanche book will emerge.
July 1, 2015
Who could blame Blanche White for assuming that filling in for a week as a cook-housekeeper as a favor to someone would be easy? After all, Miz Inez, who normally had the gig at the stately Brindle mansion, didn’t usually have a strenuous job. However, Blanche hadn’t counted on blueblood Allister Brindle’s campaign for governor of Massachusetts. Or on the disappearance of Allister’s estranged son, Marc. Or on the mysterious death of Miz Inez’s son Ray-Ray just a few days into the temporary job — with more deaths to come.
At the request of an old lady, Blanche promises to find out who killed the handsome, self-assured Ray-Ray. She begins to connect the disparate clues — and to realize that she and the niece and nephew she’s raising as her own are in serious danger.
Blanche Cleans Up has less of a social message than Barbara Neely’s first two novels, Blanche on the Lam and Blanche Among the Talented Tenth. While I miss Neely’s straightforward voice on race relations in America — whether between the races or within the African-American community — Blanche Cleans Up brims over with so much suspense that readers won’t be able to put it down. Special thanks to Brash Books for re-releasing this page-turner, just as fresh and riveting as when it was first published in 1998!
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Brash Books in exchange for an honest review.
At the request of an old lady, Blanche promises to find out who killed the handsome, self-assured Ray-Ray. She begins to connect the disparate clues — and to realize that she and the niece and nephew she’s raising as her own are in serious danger.
Blanche Cleans Up has less of a social message than Barbara Neely’s first two novels, Blanche on the Lam and Blanche Among the Talented Tenth. While I miss Neely’s straightforward voice on race relations in America — whether between the races or within the African-American community — Blanche Cleans Up brims over with so much suspense that readers won’t be able to put it down. Special thanks to Brash Books for re-releasing this page-turner, just as fresh and riveting as when it was first published in 1998!
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Brash Books in exchange for an honest review.
April 1, 2018
This was exceptionally good. The mystery was actually decent and a bit more complicated than the previous 2 books-which was nice. Usually the mystery isn't that great it's the other aspects of the story that are.
This books themes were crooked politicians period, uncle tom politicians, misuse of religion in politics, effects of lead paint, homosexuality in the black community as well as in US. Prostitution, a few of the ideas presented around this were dated and not ok. Otherwise these books continue to be extremely feminist and intersectional.
This books themes were crooked politicians period, uncle tom politicians, misuse of religion in politics, effects of lead paint, homosexuality in the black community as well as in US. Prostitution, a few of the ideas presented around this were dated and not ok. Otherwise these books continue to be extremely feminist and intersectional.
March 12, 2020
Blanche doesn't necessarily solve mysteries as much as she has a lot of responsibilities and her hand in a lot of pots; is highly-opinionated, and nosy! I think I would have enjoyed this book even more had it (1) a shorter roster of characters, (2) a shorter list of murders, (3) a bit less sleaze, (4) fewer ends to tie up at the end, and (5) a smidge less "sassiness" on Blanche's part. A very entertaining read. I read Blanche on the Lam back in the 1990s, but I don't remember her character being as "extra" as she seems to be in this novel. Who knows? Maybe I'm the one who's changed😂.
May 3, 2021
I love the Blanche books. How often do you get a casual, easy-reading mystery told with a feminist, working-class, social justice, anti-racist perspective? I'd like to have a gin & tonic with Blanche.
April 25, 2015
I am such a fan of Barbara Neely's series that I am afraid I can't consider this an unbiased review.
We may not be talking serious literature here, but we are talking about a very entertaining novel that is well-written, but also thought provoking. For me, the strength of "the Blanche novels" is that they address social issues throughout the book. Race and class are not just a sub-text, they are central to who Blanche is and how she faces the world. I have found each of the three books I've read both stimulating and cause for reflection about who we are and how we look at (and treat) others.
I am not 100% sure I would like Blanche working in my home (she is a domestic): she listens at doors, snoops in drawers, and asks many probing questions of the other staff and/or service providers to the household. But, I sure would want Blanche for a friend. She is smart, loyal and determined. There is not a doubt that her good qualities far outweigh her bad ones, but I still would prefer her not to be too involved in MY business.
It is quite a gift to be able to entertain and educate at the same time and Barbara Neely does that for me in every book. Well done, and Viva! Blanche.
We may not be talking serious literature here, but we are talking about a very entertaining novel that is well-written, but also thought provoking. For me, the strength of "the Blanche novels" is that they address social issues throughout the book. Race and class are not just a sub-text, they are central to who Blanche is and how she faces the world. I have found each of the three books I've read both stimulating and cause for reflection about who we are and how we look at (and treat) others.
I am not 100% sure I would like Blanche working in my home (she is a domestic): she listens at doors, snoops in drawers, and asks many probing questions of the other staff and/or service providers to the household. But, I sure would want Blanche for a friend. She is smart, loyal and determined. There is not a doubt that her good qualities far outweigh her bad ones, but I still would prefer her not to be too involved in MY business.
It is quite a gift to be able to entertain and educate at the same time and Barbara Neely does that for me in every book. Well done, and Viva! Blanche.
October 17, 2016
I can't even describe how awesome this book was! It totally exceeded my high expectations. Characterization was incredible--from the smart, feisty, flawed, observant sleuth Blanche to every single side character. The novel is full of everyday wisdoms and observations about humanity and life on this earth, not to mention realistic, astute commentary about being black in the US, class, sex work, homophobia, abortion, environmentalism, domestic work, and other issues weaved seamlessly and effortlessly into the detective plot which was also greatly entertaining and had just the right amount of twists. There was not one moment that I did not love reading this book. Did I mention it's also really funny? Do yourself a favour, and even if you're not a regular mystery reader, find one of the Blanche White books (irony in the name intended) and read it asap.
March 15, 2017
I love me some Blanche White! I've read 3 of the 4 books & this one is definitely my favorite so far.
May 5, 2022
Again, I love Blanche and this author. This is the third in the series and I will say, of the three, this one was the closest to the crime/mystery genres. The mystery here was very well paced and all the genre attributes were present including red herrings , undependable informants, etc. it was a little meh for her to use the same murder plot twist as she did in the Talented Tenth (who really killed that dude —you know the first one), but still this was a cute little mystery that I enjoyed and again the continued character development of Blanche and now the kids was top notch. Highly recommend.
December 10, 2016
Blanche is a self-possessed and comfortably-figured housekeeper who works for an agency and goes in when another housekeeper is on vacation. At this time she enters a mansion where a wealthy white family lives; the husband is entering an election race. Blanche White, who is very black is used to being overlooked although it's hard to get the better of her. She notices while handing around canapés that the candidate is sucking up to established black leaders in the community rather than going to black neighbourhoods in Boston. But someone who provides a service to the household is found dead in an apparent burglary gone wrong. Blanche also spots a little blackmail going on and tries to keep uninvolved... but when a second death of a healthy young man occurs, she can't resist looking into the murder.
I found Blanche's straight-talking style refreshing and sardonic. Being Irish I was a little puzzled by her references to nappy hair (on black girls) because a nappy to us is what Americans call a diaper. I think it means curly hair.
I was interested by the references to lead in the water damaging the minds of poor children and by the assertation that kids in schools get Ritalin to keep them quiet. I've read the same about Britain; allegedly this drug is dispensed far too readily for a swift diagnosis of ADHD; kids never learn self-control so if they stop taking the drug, riots occur. At a public meeting where this is discussed, Blanche also sees an ex-con taking responsibility for his life and running a group that tries to stop returned prisoners from going back to jail, by using them to help keep kids out of trouble. But there's a rabble-rousing cleric of a strange sort, who has promised the political candidate to get the locals voting his way. Blanche has personal issues of a family nature and meets many older, gossiping locals. This is a story full of character and characters. Solving a murder is almost a side issue and excuse to meet the folks.
Strong language occasionally and some adult references.
I received an ARC for an unbiased review.
I found Blanche's straight-talking style refreshing and sardonic. Being Irish I was a little puzzled by her references to nappy hair (on black girls) because a nappy to us is what Americans call a diaper. I think it means curly hair.
I was interested by the references to lead in the water damaging the minds of poor children and by the assertation that kids in schools get Ritalin to keep them quiet. I've read the same about Britain; allegedly this drug is dispensed far too readily for a swift diagnosis of ADHD; kids never learn self-control so if they stop taking the drug, riots occur. At a public meeting where this is discussed, Blanche also sees an ex-con taking responsibility for his life and running a group that tries to stop returned prisoners from going back to jail, by using them to help keep kids out of trouble. But there's a rabble-rousing cleric of a strange sort, who has promised the political candidate to get the locals voting his way. Blanche has personal issues of a family nature and meets many older, gossiping locals. This is a story full of character and characters. Solving a murder is almost a side issue and excuse to meet the folks.
Strong language occasionally and some adult references.
I received an ARC for an unbiased review.
October 16, 2019
Well, this was just delightful. Blanche is my new favorite. While I've read enough of this type of story to know basically how it was all going to go down (for real, if you have a past that includes why on earth would you find it sensible to run for governor? Although I'm probably being naive to think that anyone would care in this year of our lord 2019), but Blanche is such a fabulous character that she made the whole plotline feel fresh. I look forward to doling the rest of these books out to myself to cope with another dark and depressing winter.
"Donnie offered her a lift. She accepted but told him to let her off near Dudley Square. She wanted to walk the rest of the way. It was a bright, clear evening. The streets were alive with people and the promise of summer soon to come. She let herself feel the cool air on her cheeks and was grateful to be alive, in this body, at this time, no matter what was going on around her."
"Donnie offered her a lift. She accepted but told him to let her off near Dudley Square. She wanted to walk the rest of the way. It was a bright, clear evening. The streets were alive with people and the promise of summer soon to come. She let herself feel the cool air on her cheeks and was grateful to be alive, in this body, at this time, no matter what was going on around her."
December 17, 2019
Quick enjoyable read.
March 11, 2021
Three and a half stars. It seemed like there were almost too many plot threads in this book. Lots of social commentary, this time on the topic of sex in its many aspects. Well-written, but a little unfocused.
October 12, 2023
A good mix of mystery, cozy, humor and social issues! I feel like I heard from someone that this is where the author really finds her stride with these books, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back and start this series at the beginning.
October 17, 2023
This was a really enjoyable book, probably the best I've read for my mystery book club this year. (Even if there hasn't been the strongest competition.) Barbara Neely does a great job of making Blanche feel like a real person who isn't just solving a mystery but dealing with a number of different struggles as she tries to live her life as a black woman in Boston in the 90s. I liked how Blanche explores a lot of intra-community issues black people deal with and also the story discusses LGBT issues in a realistic way. The lesbian masseuse who's stuck trying to gain the approval of her community while being true to herself was a great character, and I was impressed by the depiction of a sex worker in this book.
Of course, all the great handling of social issues in the world doesn't mean much if the actual story isn't compelling. Thankfully, though, this was a good mystery and did a great job of balancing out all the non-mystery subplots. Years ago I read an excellent collection of early mysteries starring women, with a running theme of them solving crimes by finding out information through being overlooked by others. Blanche is right in this tradition, as her job as a housekeeper means she's invisible to the wealthy Republican gubernatorial candidate she's working for. And I liked the tension that she's filling in for the friend of a friend, so she has the power of it not being her real job but the responsibility to not mess things up too badly. It's a nice dynamic and I enjoy how it's clear Blanche is nosy by nature and would likely be ferreting out secrets even if there wasn't a murder.
Blanche definitely doesn't like her current employer but she's willing to hold her nose to an extent until the bodies start piling up and it's clear there's something more rotten than usual in the house. But it's not just the mystery of who murdered who - and by the end there's 3 murders and a suicide all piled up. There's also her nephew's involvement in an environmental cause, one that's familiar to me as a lifelong resident of the Boston area - lead paint. And there are various other subplots throughout the book, helping to make this feel like a fully fleshed out world, and not just cardboard propping up a whodunnit. The mystery itself is compelling and has plenty of twists and turns. I wasn't able to figure out the answer, but it made perfect sense once it was revealed, which is always a good thing for me in a mystery.
I'm definitely going to jump back to the first two novels in this series at some point, because if they and the last one are anywhere near as good as this book, I can tell I'll have a good time. I'm really glad my book club picked this book because I don't think I'd ever have come across it otherwise and I would've missed out on a really good read.
Of course, all the great handling of social issues in the world doesn't mean much if the actual story isn't compelling. Thankfully, though, this was a good mystery and did a great job of balancing out all the non-mystery subplots. Years ago I read an excellent collection of early mysteries starring women, with a running theme of them solving crimes by finding out information through being overlooked by others. Blanche is right in this tradition, as her job as a housekeeper means she's invisible to the wealthy Republican gubernatorial candidate she's working for. And I liked the tension that she's filling in for the friend of a friend, so she has the power of it not being her real job but the responsibility to not mess things up too badly. It's a nice dynamic and I enjoy how it's clear Blanche is nosy by nature and would likely be ferreting out secrets even if there wasn't a murder.
Blanche definitely doesn't like her current employer but she's willing to hold her nose to an extent until the bodies start piling up and it's clear there's something more rotten than usual in the house. But it's not just the mystery of who murdered who - and by the end there's 3 murders and a suicide all piled up. There's also her nephew's involvement in an environmental cause, one that's familiar to me as a lifelong resident of the Boston area - lead paint. And there are various other subplots throughout the book, helping to make this feel like a fully fleshed out world, and not just cardboard propping up a whodunnit. The mystery itself is compelling and has plenty of twists and turns. I wasn't able to figure out the answer, but it made perfect sense once it was revealed, which is always a good thing for me in a mystery.
I'm definitely going to jump back to the first two novels in this series at some point, because if they and the last one are anywhere near as good as this book, I can tell I'll have a good time. I'm really glad my book club picked this book because I don't think I'd ever have come across it otherwise and I would've missed out on a really good read.
January 4, 2021
4.5 stars. Blanche continues to get herself into and out of trouble in this 3rd installment in the series. In this one, she is filling in working as a cook and housekeeper for a couple who has just launched the husband's campaign for the governor's seat. Blackmail, murder, and secrets all come into play as someone is desperate to keep the dirty laundry hidden. At the same time, her son is working on a project for school where he is investigating environmental issues impacting their community. Both story lines were well done and fleshed out. These mysteries are worth reading for the mystery alone, but the social justice elements that are explored in each of them adds substance and topics for discussion to the reading experience. Very well-crafted.
October 13, 2025
This came together in the end, but it really threw me for a loop at first. I still think tonally this was a bit much, considering the tone and subject matter of the first two books. This is so dark and shocking in parts it is almost noir.
I still love Blanche, who is as nosy and judgmental as usual, but add in horny for this installment.
Only one book left in this series :(
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
I still love Blanche, who is as nosy and judgmental as usual, but add in horny for this installment.
Only one book left in this series :(
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
January 10, 2020
The first of Barbara Neely's books about African-American household employee and sometime detective Blanche White, "Blanche on the Lam," packed a lot of action into a short book and I loved it. The second one, "Blanche Among the Talented Tenth," showed Blanche taking a vacation at the seaside and it was kind of slow-moving and not nearly as good. With this entry in the series, though, Blanche is back to work and back in the thick of things, and it's anything BUT leisurely. Five people die violently in this book, and each death manages to top the one before it. Plus, Blanche has sex!
Blanche is now living in a part of Boston known as Roxbury with her sister's children, and she's filling in for an older black woman, Miss Inez, who cooks for a wealthy white family living in a much richer part of town. While Miss Inez is down South, Blanche takes charge of the Brindles' kitchen and winds up enmeshed in their travails. The dad is mounting a run for governor of Massachusetts and thus has a political toady following him around and giving bossy orders to Blanche, which she ignores. The mom is clearly having an affair with her trainer, an Olympic athlete who oozes sex. Their son has vanished and no one seems to have any idea where he's gone. And then there's Ray-Ray, grandson of Miss Inez, who pretty much grew up in the Brindle house until something happened that made him get out.
Now, while Blanche is at the house, Ray-Ray sneaks in and steals something, then tries to enlist Blanche in his extortion scheme. But things go awry, in a big way, and before long Blanche is searching for at least one and possibly two killers.
Meanwhile she's got angst over her adopted children, who are growing up too fast, and over a teenage girl who's helping with the kids but has a big problem of her own that Blanche tries to helop her deal with.
There's a LOT going on in this book. In addition to what I've already mentioned, there's a smarmy preacher, a woman trying to raise the alarm about lead in the pipes, a trip to a BDSM nightclub, ex-cons offering security services, a lesbian masseuse, an English cleaner, a shopkeeper who knows more than she's telling, Blanche's ex Leo and probably a couple of other things I forgot. This book is PACKED with characters and details and after a while I realized I had forgotten who a couple of the characters were. That said, I still enjoyed the book and hurried to finish it as fast as I could, and found the ending quite satisfying.
On to the fourth book in the series -- one that I know already will be tragic, because it's the last one Neely ever wrote. (She's still around though, so maybe someday she'll pen No. 5. We can only hope.)
Blanche is now living in a part of Boston known as Roxbury with her sister's children, and she's filling in for an older black woman, Miss Inez, who cooks for a wealthy white family living in a much richer part of town. While Miss Inez is down South, Blanche takes charge of the Brindles' kitchen and winds up enmeshed in their travails. The dad is mounting a run for governor of Massachusetts and thus has a political toady following him around and giving bossy orders to Blanche, which she ignores. The mom is clearly having an affair with her trainer, an Olympic athlete who oozes sex. Their son has vanished and no one seems to have any idea where he's gone. And then there's Ray-Ray, grandson of Miss Inez, who pretty much grew up in the Brindle house until something happened that made him get out.
Now, while Blanche is at the house, Ray-Ray sneaks in and steals something, then tries to enlist Blanche in his extortion scheme. But things go awry, in a big way, and before long Blanche is searching for at least one and possibly two killers.
Meanwhile she's got angst over her adopted children, who are growing up too fast, and over a teenage girl who's helping with the kids but has a big problem of her own that Blanche tries to helop her deal with.
There's a LOT going on in this book. In addition to what I've already mentioned, there's a smarmy preacher, a woman trying to raise the alarm about lead in the pipes, a trip to a BDSM nightclub, ex-cons offering security services, a lesbian masseuse, an English cleaner, a shopkeeper who knows more than she's telling, Blanche's ex Leo and probably a couple of other things I forgot. This book is PACKED with characters and details and after a while I realized I had forgotten who a couple of the characters were. That said, I still enjoyed the book and hurried to finish it as fast as I could, and found the ending quite satisfying.
On to the fourth book in the series -- one that I know already will be tragic, because it's the last one Neely ever wrote. (She's still around though, so maybe someday she'll pen No. 5. We can only hope.)
June 9, 2021
The second Black woman detective we've read this year for our Monday Morning Mystery Book Club. The first was Land of Shadows (Detective Elouise Norton #1) by Rachel Howzell Hall. I liked Blanche so much more than Lou. She was so real in her struggles and her life. I felt I could meet her at the grocery store or community center. Bravo, Barbara Neely. I'm looking forward to reading the other Blanche stories.
May 6, 2019
Why only solve murder when Blanche can also fight against environmental racism, homphobia, and prejudice against sex work? I love her. Also Blanche's friendship with Ardell always makes me cry.
July 5, 2025
The one thing I loved about Book 3 is the insert of the true story about lead poisoning! I remember that story of the family that traveled from Africa, escaping death just for the baby girl to die from eating lead that was present in the paint. The landlord/owner knew and tried to cover it up…
October 22, 2023
Good novel/mystery. Blanche is a great character. Well developed story.
July 30, 2025
This book shows how far we have come and how much we have to lose.
August 25, 2020
I'm totally enjoying the Blanche books. The mystery part is ok. But what I like most is Blanche herself and many of the ordinary parts of her life. And this one is set in Boston with parts of it in a neighborhood where I lived. I always like that.
February 18, 2017
so enjoyable! neely once again delivers a story with heart, while dealing with important racial and social issues. the novel is engaging without ever feeling preachy, and i was particularly fond of the focus on families and community. blanche is such a strong protagonist - but she's flawed and self-aware which makes for a terrific combination of traits.
May 9, 2022
I began Barbara Neely's terrific series with #4, have now finished #3, read with some trepidation. Blanche Passes Go was complex, funny, adroitly plotted, heartbreaking... When you read a series backward, the potential for less polish, more dangling plot Easter Eggs looms. Let me assure you Barbara Neely's #3 is just as good as #4, with no retracing steps, no teases.
And she did it through her "detective" (nothing whatever to do with the police) a single, black, step-mom to her sister's two children, whose day job is that of housemaid. Blanche is interesting, smart, as psychologically complex as any detective I've ever read. She's also a terrific cook. She gets people to talk by asking leading questions, paying attention and serving extra food. (An excellent policy.)
The collision of the white world that assumes that all blacks are alike (and not too bright), are there to be used invisibly--with a black world who has known for generations that you do not take murder of a black friend to the police. Ever. Their world has been hidden from us whites. It is intricate, it has its own language, and I'm not poking the bear, here, because that language WORKS. We don't expect to know the subsets of nuance, in say large Italian families. Just because we comprehend the dictionary meaning of words doesn't mean we know what is meant. But Barbara Neely has not "opened a door" to "their" subtleties. She has shown us who is there. No more and certainly no less. I'm just so sorry that she's gone, that there won't be anymore Blanche White stories.
Second read. Yes. A good good book. Not as good as #4, which I'm now rereading. Neely's skills definitely improve throughout the series. It's an increasing sadness that she's gone. I think the sharpness of her characters would have grown in intensity over the summer of BLM. A super loss to all of us.
And she did it through her "detective" (nothing whatever to do with the police) a single, black, step-mom to her sister's two children, whose day job is that of housemaid. Blanche is interesting, smart, as psychologically complex as any detective I've ever read. She's also a terrific cook. She gets people to talk by asking leading questions, paying attention and serving extra food. (An excellent policy.)
The collision of the white world that assumes that all blacks are alike (and not too bright), are there to be used invisibly--with a black world who has known for generations that you do not take murder of a black friend to the police. Ever. Their world has been hidden from us whites. It is intricate, it has its own language, and I'm not poking the bear, here, because that language WORKS. We don't expect to know the subsets of nuance, in say large Italian families. Just because we comprehend the dictionary meaning of words doesn't mean we know what is meant. But Barbara Neely has not "opened a door" to "their" subtleties. She has shown us who is there. No more and certainly no less. I'm just so sorry that she's gone, that there won't be anymore Blanche White stories.
Second read. Yes. A good good book. Not as good as #4, which I'm now rereading. Neely's skills definitely improve throughout the series. It's an increasing sadness that she's gone. I think the sharpness of her characters would have grown in intensity over the summer of BLM. A super loss to all of us.
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