Blanche Cleans Up: A Blanche White Mystery - Barbara Neely

\nBarbara Neely's skill is a force to be reckoned with Essence Magazine \n \nThe third, ground-breaking mystery featuring African-American maid and amateur sleuth Blanche White by Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award winning Author Barbara Neely \n \nBlanche White is working as a temporary cook and housekeeper for a right-wing, Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Alistair Brindle when someone tries to blackmail him. It's an ugly mess that Brindle's political team is eager to sweep under the carpet and that Blanche can't resist cleaning up herself...especially after a young black man is killed who knew too much about Brindle's dirty laundry. Her investigation raises dark secrets involving sex, environmental contamination, and political corruption, difficult stains on the white, conservative Brindle family that someone is trying to remove with murder. \n \nIt's a case that plays beautifully to the strengths Blanche showed in her first two novels: poking around, getting underfoot, and displaying maximum attitude as she solves the tiny mystery en route to sticking it to the Man. The title says it all, Kirkus Reviews \n \nBlanche's voice is sassy and sexy, and her take on urban life through African American eyes is blade-sharp and sometimes as cutting, Booklist \n \nOne is tempted to describe Blanche White as a combination of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins...but it would be a crime to suggest she is anything less than a truly original creation, Los Angeles Times