Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle (Mama Detective) - Softcover

DeLoach, Nora

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553577204 ISBN 13: 9780553577204

Publisher: Bantam, 1999

Synopsis

Two things Mama knows: sweet-potato pie...and murder.

Old bones and buried secrets...

I would have thought a bunion operation might slow Mama down, but I should have known better. We found ourselves knee-deep in somebody else's trouble even before the surgery, when we saw crazy old Miss Birdie at the grocery store with a baby that didn't belong to her. It wasn't twenty-four hours later that the baby's mother, a young woman with a wild reputation, was murdered--and the baby had vanished.

And when my Daddy's wandering dog began bringing home old bones of the most shocking kind, no way Mama wasn't going to start snooping--with me doing her legwork. It's a good thing I still had two good feet, because before long, I was running for my life...as babies' cries and women's tears mingled in a crime fueled by motives as ancient as human memory--greed, jealousy, and old-fashioned revenge.

About this title

Review:

There's lots of Southern honesty and grit on display in Nora DeLoach's latest book about Atlanta-based paralegal Simone Covington and her mother, a social worker in Otis, South Carolina, who can't help getting involved in murders. Mama Candi (named for her golden complexion, like candied yams) might appear to be cozy and comfortable on the surface--ready to whip up a splendid meal or quiet a crying child at a moment's notice--but underneath she's as tough and sharp-edged in her own way as her urban daughter.

"She was a tall girl whose head strutted two sets of weave," says Simone about Cricket Childs. Mama Candi elaborates: "Her complexion was mocha and her green dress fit her body like a wet suit. Cricket had a good figure except for a narrow behind that stuck out like a wad of chewing gum." Mama might have been somewhat less acerbic in her description, especially after Cricket is found dead and her baby girl missing. But both the Covington women are tough and shrewd survivors of a society that tries to force women, particularly African Americans, into molds. Other adventures of the Covington women include Mama Stalks the Past, Mama Traps a Killer, Mama Saves a Victim, and Mama Stands Accused. --Dick Adler

About the Author:

Nora DeLoach is an Orlando, Florida, native presently living in Decatur, Georgia.  She is married and the mother of three.  Her novels include three previous Mama mysteries.  She is at work on her fifth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0553577204
• ISBN 13: 9780553577204
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 208