A Death in Harlem

A Novel

De: Karla FC Holloway

Narrado por: Alexia Rolle

In A Death in Harlem, famed scholar Karla FC Holloway weaves a mystery in the bon vivant world of the Harlem Renaissance. Taking as her point of departure the tantalizingly ambiguous "death by misadventure" at the climax of Nella Larsen's Passing, Holloway accompanies listeners to the sunlit boulevards and shaded sidestreets of Jazz Age New York. A murder there will test the mettle, resourcefulness, and intuition of Harlem's first "colored" policeman, Weldon Haynie Thomas.

Clear glass towers rising in Manhattan belie a city where people are often not what they seem. For some here, identity is a performance of passing - passing for another race, for another class, for someone safe to trust. Thomas' investigation illuminates the societies and secret societies, the intricate code of manners, the world of letters, and the broad social currents of 1920s Harlem.

A Death in Harlem is an exquisitely crafted, briskly paced, and impeccably stylish journey back to a time still remembered as a peak of American glamour. It introduces Holloway as a fresh voice in storytelling, and Weldon Haynie Thomas as an endearing and unforgettable detective.

The book is published by Northwestern University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

"This spiritual successor to Nella Larsen's 1929 novel, Passing, will keep historical mystery fans guessing." (Publishers Weekly)

"Holloway brings her period, place, and people alive and provides as a bonus a most unexpected culprit." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Holloway's debut novel will take you on a journey that reveals a fresh, richly layered, and rarely seen - or imagined - view of early twentieth-century black life and society." (Virginia DeBerry, coauthor of Better Than I Know Myself)

©2019 Karla FC Holloway (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks

disappointed

although the story itself was very good, I found the narration very disappointing.
I would no recommend this book.

an easy read

it was an enjoyable book it read a little slow but sometimes I like looks like this. I enjoy books on Harlem where My grandfather and family migrated to in the early 30s

Horrible narrator!

The story was engaging and included interesting historical details. The terrible reader was, however, very distracting. Her delivery was monotone, with no variation for the voices of different characters. Much worse was the fact that dozens of words (pilaster, caryatid, Gauguin, Duplessis, etc.) were badly mispronounced. The passages in French were painful to listen to. It isn’t very difficult to check on the correct pronunciation of words!

things aren't always obvious!

Enjoyed the historical details of Harlem during the time of the story. A good listen.

Black dialect was a huge miss and generally awkward intonations

The Black dialect was a huge miss and made me cringe. There was also painfully awkward intonations throughout. I kept wondering how this poor narration was acceptable to the author or the publisher.