This superb police mystery is set in 1955. Burdett Vance knows he's on the wrong side of the chief when he's put in charge of the city's first Black homicide detective. It turns out that Eustace Johnson is very smart, hardworking, and a natural at police work. Out of the blue, he’s faced with what could become a major homicide investigation. Well-off young white women are being murdered, and the killer’s taunts imply he’s Black. Burdett isn’t so sure, particularly because the victims have connections to the city’s corrupt cabal of business and government men running Memphis. Eustace helps him see that all of the young women were involved with cocaine and spending time with the Black underworld on Beale Street. Good police work and a bit of luck lead them to the killer’s home, but he’s already gone. Eustace and Burdett keep at it and ultimately sort out who is responsible. Well done.
I doubt I’ve read a novel set in Memphis since The Firm over thirty years ago. What makes this an intriguing read is its insightful presentation of racial tensions in the South during the final years of Jim Crow.
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