Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for giving me a copy of the audiobook in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own
I'm a sucker for cozy mysteries. It's one of my go-to book genres and I'm always on the look-out for a Black women led cozy mystery. So when I saw the amazing cover and the description, I thought I give this a try
Synopsis according to GJ: Daphne Overture is a junior professor at the prestigious Harrison University. Between grading papers for her French colonialism course and working on her book research, Daphne just wants to stay under the radar. After a disastrous first date, Daphne gets a mysterious text from the university's golden boy professor, Sam Taylor. Something about prisons and Chinese people??? And they weren't even close. How did he even get her number?
The next day, Daphne gets news that Sam is dead and no one can find his phone or his research for his upcoming article Soon, she realizes that there's much more to Sam's mysterious text and she might have the answers the cops need to find his killer
Review: For me, part of the fun of a mystery book is the lead. Yes, I'm looking for a competent lead and an interesting backdrop of characters but overall, I'm looking for someone I'd want to stand over a fictional dead body with. There's nothing quite so frustrating as to be "stuck" searching for answers with a character I'm lukewarm towards.
It took me a while to warm up to Daphne. Don't get me wrong, I thought she was nice. I liked her friendly demeanor and her amazing friends but something about her desire to stay under the radar didn't mesh well with me. As an autistic Black woman in my 30s, other people's opinion of me doesn't matter as much as it used to.
It wasn't until about 30% into the book where the whole thing clicked for me. As a plus sized Black woman, Daphne stands out in the world of academia, especially in her niche field. The book heavily deals with misogynoir, the particular racism Black women deal with. Throughout the book, we see the microaggressions Daphne endures on a daily basis and it's exhausting. I was constantly screaming "Excuse me?!" or "The eff you just say to her?" as I progressed through the book. In the book, one of Daphne's friends, Sadie goes off on someone in Daphne's defense and I wanted to break the 4th wall to high five her.
I applaud Wallbrook's careful handling of it. I appreciate how it doesn't come off as lecturing the audience or self pitying. Rather, Wallbrook frames misogynoir for what it is: a new layer to the terrible things existing the world. It's as if you're at a terrible party with awful food and someone you hate walks in. You just throw your arms up and scream "And now this prick just showed up! Of course!" At the end, a character says something just briming with a particular bit of privilege, it made me hang my head and sigh.
She also deftly handles the subject of harassment and sexual assault and why some victims never come forward. In the end, Wallbrook addresses the institutes that keep abusers in power as well as assuring the victims that they are not to blame.
For Wallbrook's debut novel, she did a great job with the clues and filling the story with interesting characters. This might be the first mystery book where I finished it and immediately went back to the prologue for character details. Wallbrook did a great job of leaving breadcrumbs without spoiling the whole mystery or making Daphne seem incompetent or too naive. Once the plot really got going, I found myself cheering Daphne along. By 70%, I was screaming "LET'S GOOOOOOOO" like I was watching a game. I was so proud of our girl by the end and I really hope for more installments in Daphne's story.
I must also confess something though. A key part of the book is the book Papillion by Henri Charriere and everytime I heard the book title, my Kpop brain rot started screaming the chorus of Jackson Wang's Papillion. It did help with an important reveal later but at a chaotic cost.
That said, I did get a little bit of fatigue from the infodumps and the academic stuff. I also felt like some points and turns of phrases were kind of ran into ground by the end. Nothing that was too distracting but I did find myself making a little game of it by the end. The romance stuff was also a little middling for me but it was nice. I appreciated that she sidestepped the issues of a cop romance plot and addressing why some people are reluctant towards law enforcement.
I would absolutely look another book in this world. Wallbrook created an interesting world and I can easily see this becoming a series, complete with a "Finally, we're on a international trip to rela- Wait, how have I found myself in another murder investigation?" book. I'd absolutely love to meet more of the Ouverture family
I also wanted to praise audiobook narrator Jazmin Walker. She gave such life to each character and played a large part of my enjoyment. She has to juggle an African and Creole accent as well as the plentiful French and more scholastic phrases. I don't speak French so I can't say whether or not Walker said them correctly but it definitely sounded pleasant to me! I did notice that Walker pronounced "Sword" as "Sward", saying the W in the word. I'm not a stickler for word pronunciation but it did stick out to me. That said, considering Daphne's diverse background, part of me wonders if that was an intention choice as some cultures might pronounce the word like that. I know I've heard it in the south.
Overall, I give this book 4 stars. I look forward to Wallbrook's future work and what more she can bring to the genre
TW: Death, misogynoir, misogyny, racism, stalking, an attempted abduction, sexual assault including discussion of child sexual assault, police brutality, brief gun violence,
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