BUT NOT FOR ME

5 stars out of 5

I'm still not sure why I said yes when I was offered a pre-release copy of this debut novel to read and review - after all, I'm an elderly woman living far north of the Mason-Dixon Line and not even close to being a history buff. But something about it called my name - and boy, am I glad I answered affirmatively. Put it this way: if this is the first in a series as it appears to be, please sign me up for the next one.

The story centers around Kay Schiffner, who despite the times when women are thought to be best kept barefoot and pregnant, has managed to earn a law degree. She's been hired at a San Francisco law firm, where she's basically treated like a second-class citizen. She's also an accomplished jazz pianist; by night, she often makes her way to the Blue Moon, a club in the Fillmore District, an almost exclusively Black (back then, it was Negro) neighborhood where a white woman tends to stand out. But she's made friends here and is accepted by the all-male jazz musicians who take the stage, often allowing her to sit in.

But the neighborhood itself is in danger; gentrification efforts are in full swing, with at least one developer outright threatening residents and club owner Leitisha Boone - herself a sort of anomaly - if they don't sell their homes and businesses at rock-bottom prices. Things take a turn for the worse when a Black real estate mogul is shot and killed - and Leitisha is arrested for the murder on the basis of evidence that everyone - including the cops - know was planted.

Soon, Kay realizes that she's up against some very powerful people. Given the time in history, her efforts to get justice for Leitisha bump up against the reality that Black people (and women) are nearly invisible and never taken seriously. Even though she finds a couple of allies in the legal and law enforcement ranks, she quickly realizes that forging ahead puts their lives -and hers - at risk. It's a well-written action-filled adventure from beginning to end and an insightful peek into the inequities of a world that brings back memories to those of us who were around back then and to those who weren't an awareness of a time when some people were more equal than others.

But Not for Me by Allison A. Davis (Bronzeville Books, September 2024); 362 pp.

DREAM TOWN

4 stars out of 5

It's always refreshing when the old is new again - as in a return to the "private eyes" of the '50s. This is the third in the series featuring Aloysius Archer, a P.I. and World War II vet who plies his trade in Los Angeles. This one is a little darker than the first two, I think, but no less entertaining.

Archer works for friend Willie Dash at the latter's detective agency; as this story begins, he's planning a nice evening with old friend and love interest of sorts, Liberty Callahan to ring in the new year. Their dinner is interrupted by the appearance of Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter and friend of Liberty. When she learns what Archer does for a living, she tells him she thinks someone is trying to kill her and hires a somewhat reluctant Archer to investigate.

Later, when he calls Ellie for more information, a man answers but hangs up. Curious, Archer heads for Ellie's house, only to find a dead body inside but no Ellie. Now more curious than ever - and worried that something bad may have happened to Ellie - he sets off on a journey that takes him through the bowels of 1950s Hollywood and the mob-infested casinos of Las Vegas and nearly gets himself killed.

And therein lies the best parts of the book; especially since I grew up in the 1950s with my nose in "movie star" magazines like "Photoplay" and "Modern Screen" to get the latest scoops on Marilyn Monroe, Pat Boone, Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and James Dean (just to mention a few), the behind-the-scenes studio goings-on, not all of which were pleasant, were a treat to read about.

As for the plot, I can't reveal much more without running into spoiler territory. So, I'll just say I enjoyed this one (and the previous two) very much and think you will, too.

Dream Town by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2022); 433 pp.

THE RIDE OF HER LIFE

5 stars out of 5

If nothing else, I'll give the author unlimited kudos for research on what was going on in the mid-1950s at every location mentioned - it's nothing short of amazing. That it's an engrossing, well-documented story of a very brave - and very real - woman is a plus.

The woman is Annie Wilkins, who - at age 63 - was facing an uncertain future with no income, no family and no place to live except a charity home because she'd just lost the family farm. Even worse, she was dying - or would within a couple of years, according to her doctor. Refusing to accept life in a group home or the inevitability of death so soon, she decided she had nothing to lose - and she wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. How to get there, though, posed another roadblock; money for a train or bus just wasn't a possibility. She did have enough cash to buy a somewhat used horse - which she named Tarzan - so she, the horse and her beloved pooch, Depeche Toi, set off on what would be an often arduous, always adventure-filled journey from her former home in Maine to California. "I go forth as a tramp of fate among strangers," she said at the outset.

It's certainly no secret that she got there - she made local and national news many times along the way (even appearing on at the time big-time TV shows hosted by Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx). But as they say, the devil is in the details - and her experiences amid the sea-changes in the country, like burgeoning highway construction (imagine, if you will, riding a horse along a busy, truck-filled road) are often frightening. The real story, though, is how she was treated by the people she met; yes, she was a "celebrity" and, to a degree, a media darling - but she still needed places to stay and food to eat, and that depended largely on the kindness of strangers. 

Annie wrote letters by the dozen along the way and kept diaries, but most of these had disappeared by the time this book was written. Much of what's here came by way of the author's painstaking research and extensive travel; direct quotes, the author says, come from an earlier book (with permission from that author's estate, of course). It's that historical "filler" that's especially interesting to someone like me, who was a mid-teenager at the time Annie set off - meaning much of it brought back many memories of what was happening around me back then.

If you love history - and a thoroughly interesting story of a woman's courage amid adversity - you'll love this book. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts (Ballantine Books, June 2021); 336 pp.