Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely
I read this because Sisters in Crime will have a Reading Like a Writer discussion on it soon and I wanted to take advantage of that.
I know there are a lot of mysteries out there, but I had never heard of this book! I’m so glad SinC brought it to my attention because I loved it!
Blanche is a cleaning woman who is taken to court after writing bad checks. Because she's a black woman in the south, she's sentenced to jail. But she's taking care of her dead sister's kids and can't leave them, plus she just doesn't want to be in jail. So she makes a run for it, and finds herself in a strange situation she doesn't know how to get out of without calling attention to herself and her whereabouts.
Blanche is so sassy and really stood out from a lot of mystery sleuths I’ve read lately. Here's one of her internal thoughts that cracked me up: "Waiting for some prime-aged whiteman to show up and set things right had the ring of guaranteed failure." I love all the side characters too, and how they form this network for Blanche.
The mystery itself was really well-done; I didn't see the twist coming, but it was explained well and didn't seem pulled out of thin air. I went back and saw the clues I'd missed in a different light. That said, I think one of the reveals was a little glossed over; I don't think I would have known what happened in the book alone - I had to look it up and check out another review to realize what transpired.
It’s written in the 1990s but sadly the racism and sexism aspects are so relevant these days that it could be a modern book. I can’t wait to read the rest of the Blanche series.
