Harlem redux : a novel /

Walker's highly competent murder mystery, set during the Harlem Renaissance, features exotic locales, an odd supporting cast, worthy subplots and a baffling set of clues. At the center of this carefully constructed tale of murder, deception and betrayal is a twisty whodunit based on the efforts of David McKay, a young black attorney from one of Harlem's most respected families, to find out how his level-headed sister Lilian really died. Why would Lilian, a reclusive, conservative, sensible young woman, hang out in dives, hobnob with gangsters and become pregnant before her suspicious suicide? Like a character in a Nero Wolfe caper, David visits Lilian's haunts and quizzes her new friends, unraveling a host of dark secrets about her while also learning about the Harlem art world and nightlife. Walker slyly taunts and teases readers with her shrewdly rendered characters: Gem, the twin sister with a heart of glass; Lilian's husband, Jameson Sweet, a conniving gigolo; Rachel, an old flame of David's; Neila Harding, the bestselling author with a yen for David; and mysterious crime boss Adrian Snyder. Although the ending could have packed a stronger punch, and the prose is overworked in places ("the sun hung low in the sky with a dull, metallic gleam, like a watch dangling from a banker's pocket"), it's entertaining to watch the various pieces of Walker's puzzle come together. Agent, Julie Castiglia. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

A debut novel, set in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, about a young lawyer's quest to uncover the truth behind his sister's death. David McKay wasn't cut out to be a detective. The son a of prosperous Harlem realtor, he went to law school at Howard after seeing action in France during WWI and quickly set himself up as a civil-rights attorney. Much of his work was in the South, and a lot of it was so dangerous that McKay actually had to go underground for three years to escape lynching. While he was gone, his sister Lilian killed herself under mysterious circumstances. McKay learned of it only after the fact, and when he finally resurfaced and came home, he discovered that there was an awful lot that had happened in his absence. To begin with, Lilian had married a somewhat shady lawyer named Jameson Sweet-who inherited the family home and most of the fortune on Lilian's death. McKay's other sister, Gem, a cabaret singer lately returned from several happy years in Paris, apparently loathed Sweet-though Annie, the old family housekeeper, seems to have reason to think that Gem was actually in love with Sweet. Meanwhile, McKay meets up with Rachel, a childhood friend turned old flame who reveals that she'd become pregnant by McKay and given birth to his child not long after he went underground-a little girl who later died of tuberculosisnot. McKay marries Rachel almost on the spot and begins to think he might have a happy life in store for him, with plenty of time to make up for past mistakes. Wrong. Soon afterward he comes home to discover Sweet dead, and himself the prime suspect. How can this have happened? Is Lilian still alive? Is Rachel untrue? Is the entire world simply nonsensical? Good historical fun, for the most part, with some impeccable scenery.