A Darker Shade Of Crimson (Ivy League Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Pamela Thomas-Graham (Author) "Laugh at their jokes..." (more)
Key Phrases: Leo Barrett, Ella Fisher, Christian Chung (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In her debut outing as a mystery novelist, Pamela Thomas-Graham introduces the world to a delightful and exciting amateur female detective, Nikki Chase. At 30, Nikki has already eschewed a career on Wall Street to become a professor of economics at Harvard, her alma mater. She is brilliant, beautiful, ambitious, and black--a characteristic Thomas-Graham makes clear from the get-go. "Being young and black at Harvard requires advanced survival skills," she writes. "Seven generations of us have found it exhilarating, perplexing, difficult, and dangerous. For Rosezella Maynette Fisher, it was murder."

When Rosezella, Harvard's most powerful black woman and Nikki's good friend, dies mysteriously on the eve of a new school year, Nikki finds herself compelled to track down all the clues leading to the killer. A cast of richly drawn and complex characters helps and hinders her quest. For advice, she turns occasionally to Raphael Griffin, a cop who has traded the bougainvillea of the British Virgin Islands for the ivy of Harvard Yard. For moral support, she turns to Maggie Daily, a teacher, landlady, and poet whose rich stories and rolling tones provide the book with texture, history, and charm. Like any other good woman detective, Nikki has a love life as perplexing as the mystery to be solved. Her long-lost ex-boyfriend, Dante Rosario, returns to town, bringing with him more sizzle and spark than Nikki is prepared to handle.

Though it's not as dark and creepy as Paullina Simons's 1996 campus-based mysteryThe Red Leaves, A Darker Shade of Crimson captures all the power, tradition, and atmosphere of the Ivy League campus. And while Thomas-Graham does explore the social and political issues surrounding race at Harvard, she manages to avoid the pitfalls of turning a well-crafted mystery into a polemic. --L.A. Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
First-novelist Thomas-Graham partly delivers on the promise of this first tale in the projected Ivy League Mystery series by putting her own spin on the academic mystery. Dead is Rosezella Fisher, a smart, politically astute African American woman who had earned some enemies in her diligent climb to the position of dean of students at Harvard Law School. After Ella falls down a flight of steps to her death, Nikki Chase, a younger, black assistant professor in Harvard's economics department and narrator of the story, suspects murder. Thomas-Graham skillfully incorporates attitudes toward race and integration into the story, contrasting older African Americans formed by the civil rights movement to younger middle-class blacks who take for granted the movement's achievements. Less successful are the story's plot and characterizations. Events proceed from a MacGuffin that has a stranglehold on the story: Nikki worked with Ella on a committee examining university finances and must locate two of the dead woman's computer disks. Thomas-Graham manipulates mainly wooden characters who personify the academic power structure, and many of the personal relationships are childish, especially Nikki's sophomoric behavior with ex-lover Dante Rosario. In the end, despite the intellectual setting, the murder turns out not to have been a crime of reason. (Apr.) FYI: Thomas-Graham is the first black woman partner at a large management consultant firm in New York City.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671016709
• ISBN-13: 978-0671016708
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,030,030 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #2 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( T ) > Thomas-Graham, Pamela

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Quick, Fun Read, March 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON (Ivy League Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I ran to the bookstore to pick up a copy of Pamela Thomas-Graham's "A Darker Shade of Crimson" after hearing that it was about black people at Harvard. The book was a quick and fun read that highlighted issues of race, class, and gender in academia while at the same time providing an entertaining plot.

1-There were some inaccuracies in the book---such as a line mentioning "the collected works of William Junius Wilson" of whom I have never heard but who seems to be related to "William Julius Wilson."

2-The use of time was a bit ambiguous in the novel. At moments when I felt three weeks had gone by, she reminded me that only 2 days had gone by.

3-There was a bit too much name-dropping, to the point that I am not sure if people who haven't been to Ivy League schools would feel welcome to the book. I don't think I would.

4-Nikki Chase's relationship with Dante Rosario was not clear and/or believable; it was also annoying.

5-The politics of skin color came out well in the character dialogue of the story but Graham was less successful in handling it in the plot.

6-On a "moral" note I was left with the lesson that African Americans need to be excellent at what they do at all times. However, I decided that Nikki Chase was also someone I did not want to become--a woman working for "success" defined in terms of moving up a social hierarchy and getting approval from others. Success should be INWARDLY driven, determined, and evaluated. Thus, I feel like Nikki Chase is headed for therapy and a drastic mid-life crisis if she continues with the life perspective she has.

Besides all of that though I thought the plot was captivating. The ending for the murder plot was a bit slow and less dramatic than what I was suspecting. But the ending for the Leo-Ella connection plot was surprising. In addition, I found myself laughing out loud during some parts of the book. Most important, the commentary on the compexities of race, gender, and class in academia were informative without being preachy.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick read and who has some interest in the black middle-class or Ivy League environments. Those who don't, I'd refer you to a different novel before I'd refer you to this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars How do you say too much hype?, November 19, 2001

By	"rkfj" (Upper Darby, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON (Ivy League Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I wanted to hate this book. My petty cattiness wanted to pick this book apart due to the fact that the author is a glamorous, educated woman with the world at her feet. The green eyed monster aside, I found the book to be readable but not up to the hype that it has been given.

Veronica "Nikki" Chase stumbles over the body of a colleague after a blackout. She then becomes interested in finding out who did it, and why. Along the way there are ex husbands, implied affairs, scandals, and ex boyfriends. Did Pamela Thomas Griffin write this book with Writer's Digest 'Beginnings, Middles & Ends' open on her desk? This book was way too formalistic and predictable.

This section is a spoiler, so read only if you don't mind knowing how the book ends. My complaints: A) The best friend Jess. She was so corny, with her 'slang' laced talk. B) The ex-boyfriend, Dante. What was up with him? Was he the equivalent of a black man's blonde eyed trophy? Was he there so she could have a secondary plot? And since Nikki was so irresistible to every man she met, why would she let this guy push her buttons so? He was callous about her feelings, but it seemed that she spent the eight years he was away thinking only of him. C) The fact that Nikki decided to investigate. What was this - a bad episode of Charlie's Angels? There seemed to be no reason for Nikki to stick her nose into the business of Ella's death. I couldn't get find any motivation behind her search. The two had only just become friends at the time of her death, so there wasn't even any reason to suspect foul play. And less we not forget the tragic mulatto. For crying out loud, this is 2001! This passing issue could play about fifty years ago.

Some people seem to have an issue with the fact that Nikki had no close friends of color except Maggie. Since she was in Boston I found this to be credible.

I did enjoy reading about Harvard and the elite. Since I'll probably never be one of them, it was nice to get a peek at how the other half lives.

Borrow this book from a friend or the library. It is not one to own.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice shift into a gifted mind with multiple interests, October 16, 1999

By	Anne E. Donnell (Lebanon, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was surprised at the negative reviews; this is a good book with an authoritative voice. With an entertainment industry throwing us the flimmsiest of plots, this one does fine. I look forward to the next book and appreciate the characterization and the faculty interplay.