Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Blue Blood
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Pamela Thomas-Graham
Class/Genre: Mystery
Series: Ivy League Mystery
Simon & Schuster, May 1999, $23.00, 284 pp.
Racism is alive and well being deeply imbedded in most American communities. Assistant Professor Veronica "Nikki" Chase is the only black person in her fifty-person department at blue-blooded Harvard. Nikki knows prejudice first hand when she and a fellow black person Gary Fox were students at Yale. Their relationship ended when Gary informed her he was marrying white aristocrat Amanda Engusol.
Eventually Nikki and Gary reconcile and begin to attend the GAME together. Their relationship changes again when Gary informs Nikki that Amanda has been brutally murdered. Nikki tries to comfort her friend. The killing of a prominent individual like Amanda demands a quick arrest and one of Nikki's black students is accused of the crime. Nikki and much of the black community feel the police rushed to judgment by choosing a black patsy. Nikki begins her own investigation that takes her through an ugly maze while placing her own life in danger.
Pamela Thomas Graham demonstrates she fully understand the negative impact of racism on individuals. However, her female protagonist cleverly uses that learned knowledge as a tool to obtain what she wants, making Nikki a likable character playing the system for all it is worth. Ms. Graham paints campus life as a place filled with dirty tricks in which the ends justify the means. The mystery is interesting, but clearly BLUE BLOOD is Nikki's show.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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