A Toast Before Dying: A Mali Anderson Mystery - Hardcover

Edwards, Grace F.

4.08

131 ratings by Goodreads

9780385485241: A Toast Before Dying: A Mali Anderson Mystery

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385485247 ISBN 13: 9780385485241

Publisher: Doubleday, 1998

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Mali Anderson is back! Following the stunning debut of Edwards's first mystery, If I Should Die, here is the next book in the series starring this savvy Harlem sleuth.

Dubbed by the Chicago Tribune an "excellent first mystery," and named one of the top ten mysteries by Amazon.com, If I Should Die was published last year to critical raves.  Now, A Toast Before Dying takes the reader back to Harlem on a journey through jazz clubs and bars, beauty shops and barbershops, back alleys and tony brownstones, in a gripping and satisfying tale that's sure to delight the growing cadre of Mali Anderson fans.

On a busy Saturday night at a Harlem hot spot called the Half-Moon Bar, a shot rings out.  Fatally wounded is a popular barmaid and sometime actress named Thea.  The main suspect is the young, suave Kendrick, Thea's boyfriend and the brother of sleuth Mali Anderson's good friend Bert.

Miss Bert, the straight-talking owner of Bertha's Beauty Shop, appeals to Mali to get her brother off the hook.  As the story unwinds against the lushly painted backdrop of contemporary Harlem, old characters return (Mali's handsome boyfriend Tad, her jazz musician father, and her preteen nephew Alvin), new characters pop up (the colorful Too Hot, the elegant Gladys Winston), and Mali wends her way through one of the most fascinating neighborhoods on the globe to finally nail the murderer.

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Review:

In Grace F. Edwards's second mystery about the adventures of Mali Anderson, former New York City police officer, the sleuth investigates the murder of a popular and beautiful bartender named Thea at a Harlem watering hole. After Anderson's friend Kendrick is arrested for the murder, she sets out to clear his name and find the real culprit. It's hard for anyone to believe that Kendrick, a good natured young man, could have shot a woman in the face point blank. As Anderson unravels the mystery, Edwards provides her readers with a fascinating portrait of everyday life in Harlem. Anderson learns a great deal about the deceased woman's checkered past simply by listening to the gossip in two local beauty salons. Her other sources include the local bookie, Too Hot, and Flyin' Man, a wheelchair-bound former cat burglar whose two dogs propel him through the neighborhood at breakneck speed.

Anderson learns that Thea was a former beauty queen, an aspiring singer, a woman who never got very close to anyone but attracted many men. At the time of Thea's death, she was romantically involved with at least three men: Kendrick, the owner of the bar, and a prominent local politician. All three men are suspects. After a wealthy white woman hires Anderson to investigate Thea's past, the detective doesn't know what to think--but she does know she has to think fast, because people connected to the case are perishing right and left. In this book, Grace Edwards has managed to tell a pretty darn good story and capture the rhythm of life on the streets of Harlem.-- Jill Marquis

From the Publisher:

Praise for Grace F. Edwards's If I Should Die:

"[An] excellent first mystery."
--Chicago Tribune

"The best crime fiction about Harlem since Chester Himes."
--Eleanor Taylor Bland, author of Keep Still

"With style, and her wise and elegant sleuth, Grace Edwards captures the mood and bittersweet flavor of contemporary Harlem."
--Valerie Wilson Wesley, author of Where Evil Sleeps

"A gripping, raw, and suspenseful introduction to a resourceful heroine and the world she lives in."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"You don't want to miss this lush and riveting mystery."
--Mystery Lover's Bookshop News

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