BOOK EXCERPTS
Explore the gritty underbelly of the glittering Harlem Renaissance. Read excerpts from the Lanie Price series and other crime fiction by Persia Walker.
Lyrics of a Blackbird
Civil rights attorney David McKay returns from the dead to uncover the truth about his sister’s brutal death. His search reveals a world of lies, hypocrisy, and tragic betrayal. But each step toward the truth also brings him closer to ruin. How soon before his enemies find out what he's been doing all these years? Before they uncover his own bitter secret—the sin that could destroy him?
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Shards of Betrayal
Lanie’s been looking forward to interviewing celebrity Seth Carter. He’s a maverick director in the world of race films and now he’s vowing to depict hard truths on the silver screen. Then a spotlight crashes down on set, nearly killing his wife, and Lanie realizes she just witnessed a warning. There have been other “accidents” and angry threats. Someone means to kill this film—even if it means killing the people making it.
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Dear Sister Dead
Vera Kincaid had everything to live for. The wife of a wealthy preacher man, she was smart, beautiful, and popular. But lovely wives often have dark secrets, and Vera was no exception. In Harlem's sanctified circles, virtue is currency—and sin can cost your life. When Lanie Price investigates the death of her friend, she uncovers the secrets a preacher's wife took to her grave. For Vera, forbidden love had deadly consequences.
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Backdrop to Murder
The victims: a handsome photographer and a Cotton Club beauty, found dead together in the back of his studio. The suspect: the dead man's wife. Found weeping over his body, her wails of regret condemn her on the spot. Can Lanie stop an innocent woman from getting a date with the electric chair—or is this innocent woman not so innocent after all?
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Black Orchid Blues
Lanie witnesses the brutal kidnapping of a nightclub singer. Then a gruesome "gift" arrives at her door. What does this kidnapper want—and how many people is he willing to kill in order to get it? Evil hides behind the genteel façades of respectable Strivers’ Row and stalks the ballroom of one of Harlem’s most famous gay parties.
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Goodfellowe House
Christmas 1923. Esther Todd, a poor but gifted pianist, is kidnapped on a snowy night in New York City. Then thieves hit the home of her rich patron—silver, jewels, cash. Gone. So was the kidnapping real or cover for an inside job? Three years pass. Esther’s dying mother has one last Christmas wish: to know the truth. Her family asks Lanie to write about the case—and she starts asking questions, questions she's warned not to ask.
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