I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads, and I am very happy that I did. I nearly always enjoy the chance to read a book that I don't think I would have normally picked up.

This book was a complete joy to read. The story is engaging, the storytelling is smooth and wonderfully well paced. The book follows Lanie Price, a society column writer, and her journey through a mystery that begins with the kidnapping of a local singer in 1920's Harlem. Ms Price uses fantastic detailing (although not so many descriptions/details that it becomes overbearing) of the time period to entice your mind into the era so that you feel you are there within the story. The mystery has a few twists, as any good mystery should, but some twists are definitely unexpected and all are gratifying - never cheap. Although it does cover some dark subject matter, the story manages to use these dark elements well so even when the plot is shocking it is satisfying at the same time.

I really look forward to more Lanie Price stories, and I enjoyed this book enough to buy the first Lanie Price book [b:Darkness and the Devil Behind Me|2334042|Darkness and the Devil Behind Me|Persia Walker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266739532s/2334042.jpg|2340617]. ( )

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads, and I am very happy that I did. I nearly always enjoy the chance to read a book that I don't think I would have normally picked up.

This book was a complete joy to read. The story is engaging, the storytelling is smooth and wonderfully well paced. The book follows Lanie Price, a society column writer, and her journey through a mystery that begins with the kidnapping of a local singer in 1920's Harlem. Ms Price uses fantastic detailing (although not so many descriptions/details that it becomes overbearing) of the time period to entice your mind into the era so that you feel you are there within the story. The mystery has a few twists, as any good mystery should, but some twists are definitely unexpected and all are gratifying - never cheap. Although it does cover some dark subject matter, the story manages to use these dark elements well so even when the plot is shocking it is satisfying at the same time.

I really look forward to more Lanie Price stories, and I enjoyed this book enough to buy the first Lanie Price book [b:Darkness and the Devil Behind Me|2334042|Darkness and the Devil Behind Me|Persia Walker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266739532s/2334042.jpg|2340617]. ( )

"BLACK ORCHID BLUES" BY PERSIA WALKER (REVIEW)

Persia Walker writes the kind of mystery-thriller that draws you so far in you cannot stop reading until the end and even then you don't want it to stop. With her ability to plunge you into the past and weave a reality of that time period so thickly around you, she leaves you no room to wiggle your way out.

"Black Orchid Blues," is the kind of mystery that leaves you breathless and amazed. You will never suspect the truth behind "Queenie and Lanie" this is a one of a kind story. You need to meet these characters and immerse yourself into their world!

-Kitty Bullard / Great Minds Think Aloud Book Club ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

It's true that I've been disappointed lately in a whole string of titles from the usually excellent Akashic Books, not exactly bad reads but just not up to their usual exacting standards; but I'm glad to say that the latest by them, Persia Walker's Black Orchid Blues, is a great return to form, I suspect because of it being in a style that Akashic really excels at, noir tales with a unique, interesting bent. In this case, the gimmick is that all these "Lanie Price" tales (this is the second in the series) are set within the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, a brief time in this New York borough's history when affluent blacks were able to build a vibrant, opulent community of warm brownstones and hot clubs; and this turns out to be an excellent milieu within to set a rat-a-tat-style traditional crime thriller, with Walker using her obvious love for these years to inject all kinds of history lessons along the way, from looks at the neighborhood's real architecture to its infamous pre-Stonewall gay community. Now, to be fairly warned, you're going to need to be a big fan of writers like Raymond Chandler to find this book redeemable at all -- it's essentially a direct homage to that style, which will get your eyes rolling all the way to the back of your head if you're not already an admirer -- but for those who are, this brisk, informative novel is a real delight, and a burgeoning franchise you'd be wise to be following from here at its start. It comes strongly recommended to these particular types of readers.

Out of 10: 8.9, or 9.4 for fans of noir detective fiction ( )