FFB
Review returns today with a series that I am enjoying very much. Grace: A Willie Black Mystery by Howard
Owen is the fifth book in a great series that started with Oregon Hill. This is a series that should be read in order. For more reading
suggestions, make sure you head over to Todd Mason’s Sweet Freedom blog.
The fifth in the series, Grace:
A Willie Black Mystery, opens early in December 2014 a few months after
the preceding novel, The Bottom. Kids have been vanishing
for years from Richmond’s East End. Nobody has been doing much about it because
of racism, the fact that kids come from poor families, or for some other
reason. The bottom line is that young black kids have been disappearing for
years now and Artesian Cole is the latest young boy to vanish.
But, this time is different as they
have the child’s body. Despite being bagged and weighed down with rocks,
Artesian Cole surfaced in the waters of a lake over in Bryon Park. In the fifth
grade, he also attended an afternoon tutoring program at the “Children of God.”
Local legend Sam McNish has been running the program for many years despite
some opposition in the neighborhood who would rather see the property put to a
better use as they see it.
The death of Artesian Cole soon causes
the arrest of Sam McNish by the local cops. Not only is he subsequently blamed for
the murder of Artesian Cole, he is publicly blamed for the disappearances of
other children as well. A fact that does not sit at all well with Willie Black.
Reporter Willie Black is well aware
that the evidence against McNish is barely better than fence line gossip.
Having worked the police beat for many years he is also aware that often the
local cops have it all wrong. Both these two factors push him to start investigating
and digging into the case. As usual, his digging causes issues with local law
enforcement as well as his bosses at the paper who would prefer him to accept
the official line.
Grace: A Willie Black Mystery by Howard Owen
builds on the previous books in the series. Along with the occasional references
to previous books in the series, characters in this read continue to evolve and
change. While one could read this one as the starting point, one could also go
jump off the roof if one wanted to do so. It would be far better to avoid roof
jumping as well as to start this very good series from the beginning, Oregon
Hill.
The Series to this point and my
Reviews
Oregon
Hill (June 14, 2019)
The
Philadelphia Quarry (July 19, 2019)
Parker
Field (September 2019)
The
Bottom (October 4, 2019)
Grace: A Willie Black Mystery
Howard Owen
The Permanent Press
October 2016
ISBN# 978-1-57962-434-7
Hardback (also available in audio and digital formats)
245 Pages
My reading copy came from the Central Downtown Branch of the Dallas
Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
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