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Reviews
Big Hero 6: The Series, Volume 1 by Hong Gyun An
Checked Out for Murder by Allison Brook
Coached to Death by Victoria Laurie and Rachel Dulude (Narrator)
Dead, Bath, and Beyond by Lorraine Bartlett and Laurie Cass (Narrator)
Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia and Shayna Small (Narrator)
A Dilly of a Death by Susan Wittig Albert
Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds
Finding Mighty by Sheela Chari
Gideon Falls, Volume 6: The End by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino
A Hex for Danger by Esme Addison and Emily Durante (Narrator)
Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron
Muffin But Trouble by Victoria Hamilton and Margaret Strom (Narrator)
Muffin to Fear by Victoria Hamilton and Margaret Strom (narrator)
Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
Samantha Spinner and the Boy in the Ball by Russell Ginns
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham
Tippy Toe Murder by Leslie Meier
What the Cat Dragged In by Miranda James
When Fairies Go Bad by Ursula Vernon
When the Grits Hit the Fan by Maddie Day and Laural Merlington (Narrator)

Miscellaneous
September 2021 Sources

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5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish


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Dead Dead Girls: 10/12/21

Dead Dead Girls

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia and Shayna Small (Narrator) is the start of the Harlem Renaissance mystery series. Louise Lloyd saved herself and two other teenaged girls from a kidnapping. Now a decade later girls are going missing again and their bodies are left to be found near the speakeasy where they worked.

Louise has the misfortune of finding one of these dead girls. That puts her in contact with a slick talking detective. He forces her into working with him on the investigation. It's a set up that reminds me of Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (1990). The difference here is that the stakes are higher, just as they would have been if Mosley's book had been written from Daphne's point of view.

As with a few other mysteries I've read this year that were also published this year, Afia's novel addresses police brutality. This one, though, being a mystery by a Black women about Black women, also looks head on at racism, misogyny, and patriarchy. The afterword includes the author's thoughts on writing the book as well as her decision to use a historical setting to comment on today's issues.

Five stars

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