barbara neely

Blanche on the Lam (Crime, Penguin)

Blanche White lends a refreshing African-American, female twist to the mystery tradition, as she turns from domestic worker to insightful--if reluctant--sleuth. A middle-aged housekeeper with a strong sense of humor, Blanche becomes an unlikely yet ingenious sleuth when murder disrupts the wealthy household of her employers.

Blanche Cleans Up

Tart-tongued and shrewd, Blanche is unique in the field of amateur sleuths: a queen-sized, middle-aged black woman rooted in working-class America. In her latest adventure Blanche gets suckered into standing in as cook-housekeeper to Allister Brindle, a Boston Brahmin politician, and his do-gooder wife. Blanche is quickly enmeshed in a scandal that moves from the Brindles' house (a.k.a. Prozac House) to her own black community as she tries to figure out the truth behind the death of a young black man. Hot on the trail, she encounters a love triangle with bent angles, teen pregnancy, phony spirituality, and at least one person who doesn't mean her any good.

In Blanche, Barbara Neely has created a heroine to cheer for--and Blanche Cleans Up will thrill not only ardent Blanche fans and mystery buffs, but also anyone eager to explore a new neighborhood with a feisty, funny black woman as their guide.

Blanche among the Talented Tenth

The heroine of the top-selling mystery Blanche on the Lam--black domestic worker extraordinaire, accidental sleuth Blanche White--is enlisted to use her considerable wiles to discover the link between a suicide and a murder, and uncovers a web of secrets that someone may be willing to kill for.

Blanche Passes Go

Blanche White, Barbara Neely's smart, queen-sized, middle-aged African American sleuth, is a no-nonsense dame who's carrying some old baggage when she takes the summer off from cleaning houses for rich Boston matrons and returns to her North Carolina hometown. Almost a decade ago, Blanche was raped by David Palmer, scion of the town's leading family. Although she never brought charges against him, Blanche hasn't forgiven or forgotten. Now Palmer's sister is engaged to a sweet, mildly retarded young man for whom Blanche has a deep affection. When asked by his guardian to investigate the girl by using her connections with the domestics who know everything about the private lives of the town's most prominent families, Blanche sees an opportunity to bring the man who raped her to justice. The fact that he's been implicated in the murder of another woman makes revenge an even sweeter prospect.

What's most interesting about this lively series is the point of view of its heroine, a woman with a strong and clearly depicted perspective on the uneasy truce between blacks and whites in American society. Neely has created a true original in Blanche. With every new outing in this snappy series(Blanche Cleans Up, Blanche Among the Talented Tenth, Blanche on the Lam), she peels back more layers to reveal her heroine's emotional depths, her hard-earned wisdom, and her difficult but ultimately rewarding connection with the people she loves. Add love, hate, race, and homicide to Neely's expert characterizations, and you get a great read from a terrific, award-winning writer. --Jane Adams

Praise the Ancestors! After three years of housekeeping for Boston's haughty elite, Blanche White is finally coming home to North Carolina for an entire summer. And like a sign from above that she's headed in the right direction, Blanche has already lined up a date with the handsome train conductor she met somewhere between Boston and Baltimore. The summer holds lots of promise, including helping her best friend, Ardell, with her new catering business. Then, on her first night back, Blanche runs into David Palmer, the man who raped her eight years ago. The time has now come for Blanche to exact her revenge. So when a young girl is murdered and it looks as if Palmer may be involved, Blanche pursues every possible lead to help put an end to his legacy once and for all.