Mysteries by Black Authors

My discussion of the short story "Monkey Junk" by Zora Neale Hurston. An interesting story written in an old testament biblical style.

https://www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/zora

Karen Grigsby Bates is the author of two mystery novels that feature the journalist sleuth Alex Powell. These stories are set in the Black publishing world. Here two books are "Plain Brown Wrapper" and " Chosen People"

https://www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/114

If this short story had a sound track, it would be the Billy Strayhorn song, Lush Life. This story shows the range of Hurston's writing and gives us another view of life in Harlem in the 1930s.

You can listen to all of my discussion here:

Reading Zora Neale Hurston's Short Stories - I Found This Great Book

This week I am featuring the award winning mystery author Attica Locke. The author of the Highway 59 mystery series.

This story is available in both collections of Hurston's short stories

An exploration of writing style by Hurston

This short story is similar to "Book of Harlem" in its writing style. In both of these stories, Hurston uses a structure and voice that is similar to old testament texts. From the numbered paragraphs to the use of third person, these stories take on the same voice you would hear if someone read the old testament to you. I can almost imagine a preacher reading this story as a preface to their sermon. I even hear the Amen when the story concludes.

A migration story

Now that I am almost at the halfway point in through this journey, I see a consistent story that Hurston likes to capture. The life of black people who migrated from the south to New York is often included in these stories. Sometimes it is a back story and in the case of this story, it is the main story. All in all, this story tells about the adventures of Jazzbo. He leaves his life in Waycross, Georgia and heads to Harlem. He learns the ways of the people of Harlem. From his clothes to his skills at talking sweet things to women, Jazzbo eventually gains a style that wins him his lady love and a life in Harlem.

Compared to "Book of Harlem"

I think this story was less intriguing. It may be that I had experience with the format from "Book of Harlem" but I think the story in "The Book of Harlem" is a little less interesting. Both stories are intriguing in their writing style and I think in the hands of a gifted performer, they would be interesting to hear performed.

Overall - I continue to be impressed by the depth and skill of Hurston's writing.

You can follow me on this journey by going to www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/zora

This week I am featuring mystery author Tyora Moody. Tyora writes soul-searching mysteries with a dash of romance.

www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/110

Alicia from the Pretty Brown Eye Reader YouTube channel joins me for a discussion of this very funny short story. You can also follow Alicia on her Instagram channel @prettybrowneyereader and on Twitter @pbereader.

• At the 01:25 mark, Alicia talks about her YouTube channel.
• At the 03:26 mark, I give a brief overview of the story.
• At the 04:48 mark, we give our initial impressions of the story.
• At the 06:21 mark, we talk about our impressions of the two main characters, Caroline and Mitchell
• At the 12:13 mark, we begin talking about how Caroline handled the women who cheated with her husband. We had a lot of fun talking about this. Hurston's humor shines in this section of the story. Much laughter occurs during this part of the discussion.
• At the 24:38 mark, we examine the story further and how this story fits in the rest of the collected short stories
• At the 34:05 mark, Alicia share more about her BookTube channel. It's creation, the rewards and challenges.
• At the 36:16 mark, we talk about Alicia's love for poetry and how she has used her BookTube channel to promote poetry.
• At the 39:05 mark, we talk about some of the challenges and running a YouTube channel
• At the 40:21 mark, we talk about the richness of Black literature and the importance of promoting it.
• At the 46:29 mark, Alicia shares her experience running a book club at her library.
• At the 54:32 mark, Alicia share some advice for people interested in starting a YouTube channel to discuss books.

This week I feature mystery author Terris McMahan Grimes. She is the author of the Theresa Galloway mystery series.

You can view both books in the series at: https://www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/108

This week's featured author is Kwei Quartey. Kwei is the author of the Detective Inspector Darko Dawson series and the PI Emma Djan series. Both series are set in Ghana.

This week's featured author is R. Franklin James. The creator of the Hollis Morgan mystery series. A six book series that follows the life of Hollis Morgan from recently released white collar criminal to becoming a probate lawyer.

The books in this series are:

The Fallen Angels Book Club

Sticks & Stones

The Return of the Fallen Angels Book Club

The Trade List

The Bell Tolls

The Identity Thief

R. Franklin James has started a new cozy mystery series. The first book in the series is: The Appraiser.

https://www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/106