A Toast Before Dying (Mali Anderson Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Grace F. Edwards (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mali Anderson Mystery | Publication Date: March 2, 1999

Murder casts a shadow over the soul of Harlem....

When she's not studying for her master's or dropping in on her father's jazz gigs, ex-cop Mali Anderson checks out the scene at Harlem's smoky Half-Moon Bar.  She wasn't there for singer-bartender Thea Morris's birthday party, but someone else was--someone who shot Thea to death outside in the alley.  Was it her boyfriend, now sitting in jail on suspicion of murder? His sister insists he's innocent--and wants her friend Mali to clear his name.

Thea herself is a mystery: a lonely beauty in an apartment too deluxe for a woman living on tip money, with a gamut of lovers from an aspiring actor to an ambitious politician.  It will take all Mali's savvy--and sources from street-corner buzz to uptown cocktail chat--to unravel Thea's life and death.  And it will take her every survival instinct to catch a killer who will kill again to keep a deadly secret.

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (March 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553579533
• ISBN-13: 978-0553579536
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,082,023 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.