Puss Reboots: Blog: October 2022: Harlem Sunset

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Batman: Detective Comics, Volume 2: The Victim Syndicate by James Tynion IV, et. al.
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Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely and Lisa Reneé Pitts (Narrator)
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Final Sentence by Daryl Wood Gerber
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Harlem Sunset by Nekesa Afia and Shayna Small (Narrator)
Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman
Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed
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Into the Woods by J. Torres and Faith Erin Hicks (Illustrator)
The Marvelous by Claire Kann
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Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods by Catherynne M. Valente
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Pint of No Return by Dana Mentink and Stephanie Nemeth-Parker (narrator)
Poultrygeist by Eric Geron and Pete Oswald (Illustrator)
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Yokohama Station SF National by Yuba Isukari, Tatsuyuki Tanaka (Illustrator), and Stephen Paul (Translator)

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Harlem Sunset: 10/22/22

Harlem Sunset by Nekesa Afia and Shayna Small (Narrator) (2022) is the second book in the Harlem Renaissance mystery series. Louise Lloyd and Rosa Maria Moreno are living and working together. Things seem to be as perfect as can be expected, until Nora Davies reappears in her life.

Nora Davies was one of the girls Louise helped rescue when they had all been kidnapped. Now she's dead and Rosa Maria is the prime suspect. So Louise is forced to investigate another murder.

What unfolds is series of very personal, targeted attacks. The more she investigates the more her life and safety unravels. And frankly the more I got annoyed. The villain with a grudge, especially one with personal ties to the main character is one of my least favorite tropes.

What kept me reading was the historical setting and Louise's own self awareness. She's as annoyed by the situation as I was as a reader. But she also finds herself in a situation like Blanche White — completely aware she's in danger and being played, and not able to do much about it.

This novel wraps up threads from Dead Dead Girls (2021). If there's a third, hopefully it will give Louise something new to investigate.

Four stars