Black Coffee discussion

Our theme for December will be Mystery Novels!

Thanks to our wonderful member Anastasia who won 3rd place in our most recent Participation Lottery.

Please nominate a mystery novel with:

*AA, African, or African Diaspora Characters
*We prefer historical fiction or classics but are relaxing that requirement for this read.
*One nomination per member
*Nominations will end on October 15

Once I started looking into these, I have a bunch I want to read. :-) Finally settled on....


Black Orchid Blues by Persia Walker

Lanie Price, a 1920s Harlem society columnist, witnesses the brutal nightclub kidnapping of the Black Orchid,” a sultry, seductive singer with a mysterious past. When hours pass without a word from the kidnapper, puzzlement grows as to his motive. After a gruesome package arrives at Price’s doorstep, the questions change. Just what does the kidnapper want--and how many people is he willing to kill to get it?

I'd like to nominate the novel "Seven for a Secret" by Lyndsay Faye.



+++++++++++++
SUMMARY
"1846: In New York City, slave catching isn’t just legal—it’s law enforcement.

"Six months after the formation of the NYPD, its most reluctant and talented officer, Timothy Wilde, learns of the gruesome underworld of lies and corruption ruled by the 'blackbirders,' who snatch free Northerners of color from their homes, masquerade them as slaves, and sell them South to toil as plantation property.

"When the beautiful and terrified Lucy Adams staggers into Timothy’s office to report a robbery and is asked what was stolen, her reply is, 'My family.' Their search for her mixed-race sister and son will plunge Timothy and his feral brother, Valentine, into a world where police are complicit and politics savage, and where corpses appear in the most shocking of places…"

KOMET, My first thought when reading the above summary was Ooooh! Very poetic right. That book sounds so good! Thanks for nominating it.

I'll nominate Fatal Remains.

Summary: When Marti MacAlister and her partner Matthew "Vik" Jessenovik respond to a report of skeletal remains found on a wooded piece of land, the pair has no idea it's just the first indication of a convoluted case of murder and conspiracy dating back hundreds of years. The skeleton turns out to be quite a mystery in itself, leading Native American groups and historians specializing in the Underground Railroad to flock to the site.

Unfortunately for all involved, the violence associated with the area is not confined to the distant past, and soon reports of mysterious accidents and suspicious deaths are coming in faster than Marti would like. A small contingent of locals even swears the land is haunted by a ghost intent on exacting a vicious revenge for some unknown grievance. Marti knows there must be a more traditional explanation, and it's her job to find out what it is. Eleanor Taylor Bland is at the top of her form in this taut, well-researched, suspenseful entry in her award-winning Marti MacAlister series.

They Still Call Me Sister by Deborah Plummer Bussey

Former nun and practicing psychologist Kathy Carpenter knows something is off when a patient is found dead and it’s claimed a suicide. Enlisting the help of her gregarious sister in Atlanta, she sets out to prove her patient was murdered. As Kathy gets closer to the truth, political intrigue begins to surround her, and her own life begins to be in danger. Can she find the killer—or will she be a victim herself? Fiction readers will thoroughly enjoy the first in a series of psycho-social mystery featuring amateur sleuth Kathy Carpenter. They Still Call Me Sister is a warmly written story with an intriguing and diverse cast of characters and plot twists that will keep you guessing

Sounds good Anastasia. Thanks!

Love that title Lulu. Thanks!

I would like to nominate The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem by Rudolph Fisher.

THE CONJURE-MAN DIES (1932) was long thought to be the first detective novel by an African American, although scholars have since discovered an earlier African-American novel in this genre, published in 1901. As an important novel in the African-American detective tradition, THE CONJURE-MAN DIES incorporates black vernaculars such as music, language, and hoodoo into a mystery format.

Frimbo, a black conjure man, is killed during a seance in his apartment over an undertaker on 130th Street. Five suspects (two women and three men) plus Frimbo’s personal servant are present. Four of the suspects are waiting in an anteroom decorated with African artifacts. Perry Dart, New York City’s only black homicide detective, teams up with physician John Archer to solve the case. Halfway through the investigation, Frimbo reappears, raised if by magic from the dead. Who was killed? Frimbo springs from the African Trickster tradition, but the novel resembles in many ways a locked room mystery of the English manor house style, transposed to Harlem. However, its use of Harlem Renaissance themes of black pride and Afrocentrism, combined with African-American street scenes and characters, make its themes socially conscious in the hardboiled tradition.

Great choice Beverly! Very interesting that it was thought to be the first.

Londa wrote: "Great choice Beverly! Very interesting that it was thought to be the first."

I think on some sites it will still be listed as the 1st AA mystery novel and was also known as the 1st mystery novel with all black characters.

Because of the limited print availability of a lot of the earlier books - many books got "lost" and lucky for us when they get found.

I would like to nominate Crossing The Line: A Darcy James Mystery by Donna Lively

Darcy James is the daughter of a black jazz musician and a French prostitute. She could easily pass for white. In 1913 Chicago doing so would make her life a lot easier.

Instead she clings tightly to her racial identity and the memory of her beloved father.

That is until her courage and intelligence are put to good use as an undercover investigator for Ida Wells-Barnett and her anti-lynching campaign. Darcy is recruited to investigate the death of a young black man, Saylor Cates, in the town of Medicine Chant, Oklahoma. Accused of raping a white woman, Saylor is killed by an angry mob. But the facts are far from clear. Her mission is to dig deep into the community to uncover the truth behind Saylor's murder.

Before leaving Chicago, Darcy launches her own personal crusade to find and punish the men responsible for her lover's death. Danny Sardo was a tortured soul and escaped his pain with an overdose of morphine. Darcy enters into an uneasy alliance with his former employer and infamous brothel owner, Fat Louie Napoli. It is up to Fat Louie to use his resources to uncover the conspiracy behind Danny's death and clear a path for Darcy's revenge.

Meanwhile in Medicine Chant, Oklahoma, Darcy sustains a dangerous masquerade. Posing as white, she has easy access to the local elite. But her questions are making some people nervous. The community has something to hide that goes deeper than the killing of one black man.

Darcy must use all her wits to solve this tragic puzzle, or she could very well be the next victim of a noose tied in Medicine Chant, Oklahoma.

Great choice Maya! Love that it tackles the subject of passing in such a unique way.

I love mysteries...these all look good.

I love all of the nominations so far. I have not read a good mystery in a long time. I look forward to reading which ever one is chosen

Please go vote!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...