A Toast Before Dying: A Mali Anderson Mystery [Hardcover]

Grace F. Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 1998

Mali Anderson is back! Following the stunning debut of Edwards's first mystery, If I Should Die, here is the next book in the series starring this savvy Harlem sleuth.

Dubbed by the Chicago Tribune an "excellent first mystery," and named one of the top ten mysteries by Amazon.com, If I Should Die was published last year to critical raves.  Now, A Toast Before Dying takes the reader back to Harlem on a journey through jazz clubs and bars, beauty shops and barbershops, back alleys and tony brownstones, in a gripping and satisfying tale that's sure to delight the growing cadre of Mali Anderson fans.

On a busy Saturday night at a Harlem hot spot called the Half-Moon Bar, a shot rings out.  Fatally wounded is a popular barmaid and sometime actress named Thea.  The main suspect is the young, suave Kendrick, Thea's boyfriend and the brother of sleuth Mali Anderson's good friend Bert.

Miss Bert, the straight-talking owner of Bertha's Beauty Shop, appeals to Mali to get her brother off the hook.  As the story unwinds against the lushly painted backdrop of contemporary Harlem, old characters return (Mali's handsome boyfriend Tad, her jazz musician father, and her preteen nephew Alvin), new characters pop up (the colorful Too Hot, the elegant Gladys Winston), and Mali wends her way through one of the most fascinating neighborhoods on the globe to finally nail the murderer.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Grace F. Edwards's second mystery about the adventures of Mali Anderson, former New York City police officer, the sleuth investigates the murder of a popular and beautiful bartender named Thea at a Harlem watering hole. After Anderson's friend Kendrick is arrested for the murder, she sets out to clear his name and find the real culprit. It's hard for anyone to believe that Kendrick, a good natured young man, could have shot a woman in the face point blank. As Anderson unravels the mystery, Edwards provides her readers with a fascinating portrait of everyday life in Harlem. Anderson learns a great deal about the deceased woman's checkered past simply by listening to the gossip in two local beauty salons. Her other sources include the local bookie, Too Hot, and Flyin' Man, a wheelchair-bound former cat burglar whose two dogs propel him through the neighborhood at breakneck speed.

Anderson learns that Thea was a former beauty queen, an aspiring singer, a woman who never got very close to anyone but attracted many men. At the time of Thea's death, she was romantically involved with at least three men: Kendrick, the owner of the bar, and a prominent local politician. All three men are suspects. After a wealthy white woman hires Anderson to investigate Thea's past, the detective doesn't know what to think--but she does know she has to think fast, because people connected to the case are perishing right and left. In this book, Grace Edwards has managed to tell a pretty darn good story and capture the rhythm of life on the streets of Harlem.-- Jill Marquis

From Kirkus Reviews

``They got my brother!'' hairdresser Bertha Owen screams into ex-cop Mali Anderson's phone at 4 a.m. Kendrick Owen isn't dead, but he might as well be: The corpse in the alley behind the Half-Moon Bar is Thea Morris, Kendrick's fellow bartender and girlfriend, a former beauty queen shot dead on her 33rd birthday. The cops, unmoved by this year's millionth killing in Harlem, like the neatness of tagging Kendrick for the murder. But Bert swears her little brother wouldn't have done such a thing, and Kendrick's voice and acting coach Teddi Lovette, whose race and money are likely to have a lot more pull where it matters, offers Mali $20,000 to get the lowdown on Thea's life. Mali soon finds that there's a lot to learn, most of it pretty low. Thea was pregnant (by Kendrick? by her more upscale lover, veteran senator Edwin Michaels?), grasping, and none too fussy about how she got the money to support the wide swath she was determined to cut in the uptown social circles Edwards (If I Should Die, 1997, etc.) brings to life so well. But when the smoke finally clears--Thea's murder is only the call to arms--the heavy hitters, inevitably, will be people with a lot more to lose, and a lot fewer scruples about how to save it all, than the slain beauty queen and the loyal kid who loved her. More successful as social history than as mystery; the stench of big-city corruption and racist fear is so powerful from the opening scene onward that it's obvious where all the bodies will turn out to be buried. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (April 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385485247
• ISBN-13: 978-0385485241
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,105,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Drink this book as you would fine champagne. CHEERS!!, September 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Toast Before Dying (Mali Anderson Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Your heart will race, and your mind will fill with vivid images thanks to this writer. Mali is a great character. Grace Edwards a great writer. If you appreciate a "good book," click away and order this book!

My personal disclaimer: I admit that I am addicted to these Mali Anderson mysteries. So much so that I am a little aggravated that I have read them all.

A note to the Author: MORE, please!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating Harlem history suspenseful mystery!, July 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Toast Before Dying: A Mali Anderson Mystery (Hardcover)

"No Time To Die" is a intriguing follow up in a trilogy of the series of Mali Anderson Mysteries. The storyline is captivating and is interspersed again with current and historical little known Harlem facts. This entire series is an enjoyable read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Story, April 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Toast Before Dying (Mali Anderson Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

The cover caught my eye and I bought it on a whim. This book turned out to be a non-stop read from beginning to end. I especially like the characters and how the story evolved. I'm rushing out to buy the first book to continue with this one the ball detective from Harlem. My hats off to this new detective series. I can't wait for Mali to solve more crimes.