Rhode Island Red (Nanette Hayes Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Charlotte Carter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nanette Hayes Mysteries | Publication Date: February 1, 1999

Nanette is doing OK playing her saxophone out on the street. Sure her boyfriend Walter doesn't think it's any way for a black woman with a Masters degree in French to carry on, but she's happy. Then things start happening. An undercover cop dies in her apartment. A strange man wants her to explain the mystery of Charlie Parker. Walter wants to get married. And who or what is Rhode Island Red? Fast, sweet and funny, Rhode Island Red is a classic New York thriller, the story of a Spike Lee heroine in a Woody Allen world.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Nanette knows better than to bring home Sig, a white guy who bad-mouths her street sax-playing. But she's on the outs again with her live-in Walter, and Sig seems harmless enough. Not so. Before morning Sig is killed, Nanette's getting pressed by a mean black cop who doesn't even know she's found $60,000 that Sig stuffed inside her sax, and Nanette, who's probably never even read The 39 Steps, finds herself on the trail of Rhode Island Red. She doesn't know what the phrase means, but just mentioning it gets her even deeper into trouble. Nanette--a former spelling champ who went to Wellesley, listens to Erik Satie, and uses words like ``hiatus''--is an unlikely heroine for this first novel, a gritty bit of soft-shoe. Still, she's its best selling point, since the search for Rhode Island Red, though sweet and sad, is also shapeless and unmysterious. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Rhode Island Red is not only a quick read, it's a good one. Author Charlotte Carter let me live in New York City for two hours; I finally found out exactly where Hell's Kitchen is, and without threat to my life. The mystery itself kept me guessing until the very end as to who the villain was, and the twist was authentic. Nanette, Carter's female protagonist, is a single, somewhat struggling musician living in the heart of Manhattan. Carter's take on this theme is original. Nanette is a saxophone player, African American, described as a Grace Jones look-alike, street wise as well as fashion conscious, and filled with insatiable curiosity. With all this in mind, Nanette's reactions to some of the tragedies that took place in this book were rather casual, and therefore contradictory to the character. I loved traveling through NYC, experiencing both the upper crust of life and the bottom of the toilet existence that exists in a large city. -- From Independent Publisher --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446606642
• ISBN-13: 978-0446606646
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy first effort, November 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rhode Island Red (Nanette Hayes Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was good in that Nanette Hayes' character is one we haven't seen before. Any weakness the author shows in regards to plot are more than made up for with Nanette's character.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nanette is wonderful!, July 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Rhode Island Red (A Mask Noir Title) (Hardcover)

Nanette, the main character in Rhode Island Red, is fantastic! Although I thought the plot was a bit weak in spots, Nanette makes the book a very worthwhile read. Charlotte Carter has a lot of talent and I can't wait to read her next book!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nanette Hayes, A Fabulous New Impromptu Detective, October 4, 2002

By 

Vixenne Victorienne "Kymberlyn Reed" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Rhode Island Red (Nanette Hayes Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

'Rhose Island Red' had been sitting on my bookshelf for about two years (all avid bibliophiles have such backlogs), but it was worth the wait. Charlotte Carter gives us Nanette Hayes, a fresh new voice in the world of detective fiction.

Nanette Hayes may be smart and sassy, but she's rather directionless. Armed with a master's degree in French, a love for Paris, a taste for Rimbaud, a refined palate on a beer budget, and a true love affair with jazz, she spends her days playing saxaphone on the streets of a New York that Ms. Carter captures so lyrically.

This novel reminded me of the seminal French film 'Diva', with all the plot twists and unusual characters - crooked cops, $60,000 stashed inside a saxaphone, an elegant yet aging criminal who worships Charlie Parker, and a no-nonsense exotic dancer with a taste for Wall-Street investments. Oh, and a gay lower-level mobster who becomes Nanette's confidente of sorts.

The story centers around the urban legend of the Rhode Island Red, a saxaphone that was supposedly given to Charlie Parker from a mobster as a bribe to play at a wedding. A saxaphone that was reportedly filled with heroin.

Charlotte Carter writes in the breezy rhythmic style of a jazz musician, and the book was a joy to savor. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book, 'Coq Au Vin'. Our heroine goes to Paris...ooh la la!