Customer Reviews

Darkness and the Devil Behind Me

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

DARKNESS AND THE DEVIL BEHIND ME by Persia Walker takes place in 1920s Harlem. Esther Todd, a very talented pianist, disappears without a trace and her family is devastated. Lanie Price, a newspaper reporter, tells the story in her column in 1923. About the same time, a major robbery of the society woman who gave Esther her chance for fame, clouds the issue. Was Esther somehow involved and simply disappeared to avoid prosecution? By Christmas 1926, her sister, Ruth, is desperate. Ruth's desperation leads her to Lanie and asks her to write about her sister again. Lanie agrees and also begins to ask questions, attempting to find out what really happened to Esther. She even promises Esther's young son that she will do everything she can. Lanie is sure someone knows what happened that dark and snowy night, however, no one is talking, but she is persistent. She is also having a bit of difficulty with her boss, who feels she should be writing something light and upbeat for Christmas, plus his bosses are on his case for letting her have her way. Will Lanie find Esther alive and ease the young son's grief?

DARKNESS AND THE DEVIL BEHIND ME is a truly good mystery with lots of suspense, romance, fright and racial issues. Even if Lanie discovers what happened, will the high society white people involved let her tell the story without ruining the newspaper, which is a black production in Harlem? There are many characters and quite a few side plots, but they all blend together to make a coherent story that is easy to follow. I found the book to be delicious!

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of the RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Darkness and the Devil Behind Me by Persia Walker will capture your attention from the first page. Esther Todd, a talented and aspiring pianist, disappears into thin air on a cold December night. The investigation of her disappearance stalls after several dead ends. Her sister, Ruth, is determined to find out what happened to her sister. Ruth appeals to Lanie Price, the crime reporter turned society columnist who initially covered Esther's story. Frustrated with the superficial lives of the elite that she covers in her column, Lanie cautiously agrees to help Ruth uncover the truth. Unfortunately, there are folks who would rather leave the past in the past and are willing to do anything, including murder, to make sure that happens.

Persia Walker presents a page-turning thriller infused with pockets of romance. Set in Harlem, New York, Walker depicts an often unseen version of life during the Harlem Renaissance and Prohibition. Readers might be a bit overwhelmed with details and distracted by minor grammatical errors at times but they will not be disappointed with this engaging and entertaining story.

Reviewed by M. P. McKinney
APOOO BookClub

"Darkness" is a very entertaining mystery that gives an unusual insight to life in Harlem in the 1920's. The reader comes to understand the complex interaction of race, class and gender through the eyes of Lanie Price an feisty, independent society reporter seeking to find the truth about the unsolved disappearance of talented young woman who, but for her family, had been long forgotten. That search will cross many of that society's boundaries and cross those who maintain the balance of place. Lanie is not just Easy Rollins in a dress. She is the type of assertive Afro-American woman that the reader would be pleasantly surprised to find at a time in history when the rights of white women to vote were still questioned. It is her spirit that drives this story.

I am absolutely thrilled that I found a writer--Persia Walker--who loves writing about Harlem as much as I love reading about Harlem. Always said that if ever someone invents a time machine I would love to go back to Harlem during its heyday and just OBSERVE the places, the artists, the singers, the jazz musicians, the writers and the people about whom I've read so much "across 110th Street." I can't wait for the next Lanie Price Mystery for "Darkness and the Devil Behind Me" I know that there must be a wonderful story behind Walker's tales that took TONS of research on her part as a journalist to make the book authenic to its time and place.

Lanie Price writes the society page for The Harlem Chronicle. Although content to highlight the positive doings of Harlem's professionals, she becomes increasingly outraged over the harsh injustices suffered by those left behind. When pressed to find the truth about the mysterious disappearance of a young talented pianist named Esther Todd, Lanie taps into her skills learned as a past crime reporter. What she finds are puzzles and secrets surrounding the assumed link between the girl's disappearance and a million dollar heist at the home of Todd's society patron. As Lanie uncovers new suspects, multiple violent crimes begin to occur and her own life is threatened.

Lanie Price is a woman of many layers. Even though forced more than once to check her temper over slights regarding her race, her biggest obstacle is her difficulty to overcome her grief over the sudden death of her husband. In spite of this, a stubborn and relentless Lanie finds a sympathetic and possible romantic ally in her boss.

Walker writes well about the small details of 1920s Harlem life. Of interest are the mores of these prohibition years where the ban on alcohol was happily circumvented at Harlem's hottest jazz clubs - the Savoy, Cotton Club, the Layette Theaters. The story describes the prevalence of interracial contacts, at least on high levels, with some African Americans courting whites to push their various agendas, and wealthy whites engaged in "do good" projects. Others mix in the crowds that flocked to Harlem to hear Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and other big name entertainers of the day.

Other reviewers have summed up the plot so well that I'm just going to refer you to them.

This has been one of my favorite reads this year. I had trouble putting it down to get on with my life. I finished it a few weeks ago, and the characters have stayed with me since then.

Lanie is a capable, enjoyable hero whose journey from dissatisfied society reporter to crime-solver facing overwhelming odds works well. Her internal issues as a young widow mesh well with her stated mission of learning what happened to a lost young woman. After all, in some ways, Lanie is a lost young woman herself.

The book managed to transport me to another time yet show me that human nature stays the same.

I'm looking forward to Lanie's further adventures.

Walker has the atmosphere of the Harlem Renaissance just right. She knows the time and place so well she appears to have been there and takes the reader along in trying to find a missing woman in the no-man's land between black and white.

After a splashy, stunning opening, we travel many twists and turns through a sociallly careful Harlem, New York in which money, influence, and sometimes color, reign. A smart, courageous society reporter for a black newspaper, Lanie Price, cares not just about the missing Esther Todd, but the vanished woman's family. The story is Lanie's as she tries to find out what happened to Esther and if the black woman was involved in the spectacular, shocking robbery of wealthy guests of her white society mentor.

The book is a compelling read providing all the ingredients of a top-flight mystery. Lanie Price is down-to-earth, authentic, and a heroine readers will want to follow throughout--along with other well-sketched characters.

Then, too, the book is expertly plotted, and the story isn't over until it's over, so anyone who picks up this novel won't be able to put it down.

Walker is at the pinnacle of her craft and knows how to hook and, chapter after chapter, reel in her readers. May she have many of them, whom she can taunt and entertain outrageously in the charming way she manages to do just this.

Enjoyed reading this - it's a fun page turner with some great information about life in Harlem during that time. Her reporter is a bit like a terrier with a rat in its mouth that isn't going to let go no matter what. The author did a nice job in dealing with the romantic relationship - a bit more realistic than the usual heavy panting. And she must have enjoyed creating Serena - she's a hoot