LYRICS OF A BLACKBIRD
Old loves, festering hatreds, and buried family secrets: A man returns from the dead in this sweeping tale of Jazz Age New York.
Civil rights attorney David McKay disappeared years ago while investigating a lynching down South. Now, he's back, very much alive and determined to unearth the truth about his sister’s brutal death. His search rips back the curtain on the glittering world of the Harlem Renaissance, revealing a world of lies, hypocrisy, and tragic betrayal.
Each day he spends in town brings him closer to the truth—and closer to ruin. How soon before time runs out? 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?
Lyrics of a Blackbird is an absorbing and powerful standalone in Persia Walker's series of 1920s noir mysteries. If you want a late-night page-turner full of romantic suspense, then grab Lyrics of a Blackbird.
(Previously published as Harlem Redux)
Acclaim for LYRICS OF A BLACKBIRD
“"A murder mystery set among the black bourgeoisie, it is also the heady tale of a bygone era … compelling family intrigue and a full, vibrant portrait of that storied era when Harlem’s pulse was the rhythm of black America.”
— The Boston Globe
“This intriguing page-turner, convincingly set in the heady era of 1920s Harlem, is atmospheric and smart and will keep readers guessing until the very end.”
— Tananarive Due, author of The Reformatory
“Walker demonstrates ... the complicated milieu of 1920s Harlem and has fun rendering its foibles. Her best writing conveys in wistful detail the rent parties and speakeasies, the snooty clannishness of the African American elite, the predatory white patrons whom Zora Neale Hurston memorably dubbed Negrotarians. HARLEM REDUX proves [Walker] more than capable of offering a penetrating dissection of the black uppercrust.”
— The Washington Post
“Sexy.”
— The New York Daily News
“As much a story of lies, deceit and murder as it is a commentary on race and class, HARLEM REDUX is filled with colorful characters.”
— The Chicago Tribune
“Walker slyly taunts and teases readers with her shrewdly rendered characters.”
— Publishers Weekly
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE MYSTERIES
MINI-MYSTERIES: Got the Grit to Crack the Case?
CROSSWORD PUZZLES: The Clues Are There. Can You See Them?
SHADOW & SMOKE: For the Noir-Inspired Life
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