Barbara Neely

Certain that she will be blamed when someone turns up dead in the house where she works, Blanche White, a middle-aged domestic worker, turns sleuth to find the true criminal

Blanche on the Lam

Originally published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

A Blanche White Mystery

Sarah Sammis

** spoiler alert **
           Blanche on the Lam feels really dated and I kept having to remind myself, that it is a thirty-year-old mystery. It's natural for it to feel dated. The biggest difference is Blanche's reliance on the phone in her employers' kitchen as this is a decade before the ubiquitous cellphone. There's also no internet — no way for her to research her employer or call for an Uber if she needs to escape. She's essentially trapped and left to her own wits and strength to save herself.

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I don't know if I would cause this a cozy mystery, though it is relatively light in content so I guess it could be grouped as that. I mean if we'll allow Stephanie Plum books to be cozies, I guess anything goes.

This is a quick, interesting read. Blanche isn't your typical "goodie twoshoes" character. She finds herself in a bind and on the run for some bad check charges. She ends up getting involved in a plot much more sinister and deadly than she could have imagined.

I liked Blanche. She's honest about her situation (a black maid in the south, possibly during Jim Crow or a little afterwards). She doesn't mince her words and she isn't oblivious to her situation or surroundings. That was so refreshing compared to the typical cozy mystery scene, where the women just waltz around with the killer or get into verbal arguments with cops.

The only thing that really turned me off was the Down Syndrome character, and his depiction. Not that I think it was wrong, but it was really hard to listen to in the audiobook, and Blanche's reaction was odd about it.

If you're looking for a mystery with some actual reality mixed in, but that isn't a gory bloodbath or something that will keep you up at night, this is it. I'd give another one in the series a read for sure.

Blanche on the Lam

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