Penny Black

Penny Wanawake #1

by Susan Moody

vg++ book in vg++ dw 1st print edition Macmillan 1984 book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

She grew up in Oxford then moved to Tennessee for 10 years. She published two historical novels and the novelisation of the Nescafe Gold Blend advertisements under the pen name Susannah James. More recently she has also used the nom de plume, Susan Madison. She is a former Chairman of the Crime Writer's Association, served as World President of the International Association of Crime Writers, and was elected to the prestigious Detection Club. Susan Moody has given numerous courses on writing crime fiction and continues to teach creative writing in England, France, Australia, the USA and Denmark

Reviews

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 2 out of 5]

A swinging black Brit female detective tries to find out who murdered a friend.

JUST NO. I read this because it's on a best-of mystery list. Not only is it deeply offensive, with yuk-yuk dialogue, flat characters, and a dippy resolution to the murder, but there's a deus ex machina. In addition, the ebook edition is rife with conversion errors. Avoid.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Penny, sleuth extraordinaire, arrives in California from London and discovers her friend missing. She pursues the killer.

[Kelvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 1984 book written by English author Susan Moody and is the first book in the amateur detective Penny Wanawake series. Penelope Wanawake is a 6 feet tall beautiful mixed-race photographer whose mother, Lady Hurley, is of British peerage and is from an old English family. Penny’s father, Dr Wanawake, is Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations for the Republic of Senangaland so Penny is a rich girl who grew up in privileged British high society. Even though the book is on the Mystery Writers of America list of the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, I am quite disappointed by it. I find the writing only average, the plot not very strong and Penny an ineffective detective. In the end, the mystery solved itself rather than through Penny’s skills. Moody tried to portray Penny as both an aristocratic lady of the leisure class (kind of like a modern-day female Lord Peter Wimsey) as well as a sensitive black woman who understands the sufferings of the black minority in America. Unfortunately, I don’t think Moody pulled it off and Penny did not come across as genuine nor likeable.

Spoiler Alert. The story is about the murder of a good friend of Penny, a model called Marfa Lund. The setting is mainly in Washington D.C. with minor scenes in Los Angeles and London. When Marfa was found murdered and her face mutilated in a toilet in the Los Angeles International Airport while changing planes, Penny decided to investigate. It quickly turns into a suspects-elimination and alibi-checking game. It turns out various people might have an opportunity to kill Marfa, although the motive remained elusive. Finally, at the very end of the book, it was revealed that the murder was all caused by a black orchid. In the orchid world, to be able to cross-breed different color orchids to create a truly black orchid is the holy grail of success and will bring to whoever succeed first a lot of fame and money. Two separate orchid experts, a rich French socialite called Nicole Delage living in Washington D.C. and a poor American biologist called Frank Bernard, were neck in neck as to who will succeed first and win the big prize. Frank has a ruthless, delusional and psychopathic girlfriend, Kamala Ranji, who was convinced Frank is in love with her (he is not) and will marry her (he does not want to) once Frank hit it big by being the first person to figure out how to cross-breed a black orchid and won the top awards. Kamala knew that Nicole is ahead of the game and will likely succeed and win the race. To help Frank, Kamala went to Nicole’s greenhouse and stole her black orchid before it has been submitted for competition. Unfortunately for Marfa, Kamala thought Marfa witnessed her theft and therefore Kamala invented a clever alibi for herself and murdered Marfa at LAX. As a result of the theft, Frank won the prize. Later, when Kamala returned to the Delage reside to return the stolen black orchid, she was caught by Nicole and Kamala has to kill Nicole as well. Ultimately, the case was solved more by Kamala’s action that by any clever detection.

For orchid fanciers, it is notable that black orchids and orchid cross breeding and competition features prominently in the book. However, the quality of this book is no comparison to the more famous Nero Wolfe book also involving black orchids: the mystery called “Black Orchids” by Rex Stout. That is a much more interesting read.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t read any Jackie Collins, but I imagine that of I had, I’d be citing her as a major influence on Susan Moody. Penny Black is very much of its time, with the 80s oozing from every designer pore. Penny Wanawake is a globe-trotting photographer, ‘six feet of outraged black female’, daughter to a diplomat, lover to an art thief, and a strong, courageous and intelligent investigator. And a bit of a clothes horse.

Read my full review

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is reviting and Susan Moody knows how to write not only interesting characters but this female James Bond Protag is someone all young women ought to read because she is a definite strong woman, a real woman with flaws and a role model in the finest form.
I wish the Penny Black Mysteries could still be found.
Pamela

[Precious · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this when I was a teenager. Such fun to find it again.

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Penny is a heroine with attitude, particularly like the sarcastic remarks she makes.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty awful