Barbara Neely (1941–2020)

I'm sad that this is the last book featuring Blanche, but while there are some unresolved story arc, Blanche Passes Go is otherwise a fairly satisfying conclusion to Barbara Neely's series. As with previous installments, this is technically a murder mystery in that a murder occurs and Blanche is interested in finding out who committed it, but there's no real hunting for clues and not a single cop appears. Neely instead uses Blanche's trip back to her home town in North Carolina as a backdrop for her exploration of domestic violence, generational trauma, and racism. At times a tough read, but Blanche's voice is always distinct and clear enough to keep me reading on.… (mais)

This third installment of the Blanche White series sees Blanche living in Boston and temporarily working for an aspiring politician and his wife. She soon finds herself embroiled in a whole series of events: blackmail, corruption, and multiple gruesome murders. Blanche Cleans Up was very readable, and Blanche is as vivid a character as ever, but I didn't enjoy this as much as previous installments. There were times when a lighter hand might have served Barbara Neely better in making some of points she was trying to put across here, and near the end the novel took a twist into some very dark issues that I'd prefer to avoid. Readable, but not one I'll be revisiting.… (mais)

I read a print edition of this some time ago. After reading Blanche Among the Talented Tenth and really loving it I decided to try the first in the series as an audiobook. The reader was not the best, but I suspect it was the direction she received. The dialog was rendered faultlessly, but the narrative seemed kind of stilted. Her pronunciation hitting consonants really hard and using long vowels in unexpected places just felt a bit strained. The story is very engaging and I appreciated being inside the head of this character so different from myself and yet so similar.… (mais)