Outside Child
Synopsis:
Pre-Katrina New Orleans: Ladonis Washington finds success within her grasp after the grisly death of her business mentor. But is she willing to risk her brother's life in her search for the truth?
When Tim Ganen ends up in the blades of a New Orleans paddle boat, a grieving Ladonis finds opportunity. Tim was her mentor, a white man willing to advise and guide a young, ambitious, well-educated black woman who grew up in the Magnolia Housing Project. Now his death—the manner of his death and his secrets—opens a door to promotion and success.
But Ladonis is in over her head from the start. Floating Palace Steamboat Company CEO Bret Collins and Marketing Vice President Lamar Kasdan force Ladonis into their personal worlds of rivalry and deceit. Her initial forays place her in increasing jeopardy. Only her brother HeartTrouble seems able to rescue and deliver her from the villains and the dangers they threaten.
HeartTrouble comes to her aid with intelligence, street experience, even attitude. In any other circumstances, Ladonis would have rejected her younger brother's street smarts. Will he renew Ladonis' understanding in the values she has scorned and abandoned, and, in turn, discover value in her ambitions? Not before sister and brother face death together.
In Outside Child, Alice Wilson-Fried has written a debut mystery novel that reveals more than circumstances of murder and its resolution. Alice opens up a veiled world of racial, political, and economic discord, and takes readers on a tour of a place and society that has raised questions and enlivened curiosity since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Book Excerpt:
CHAPTER 1 - Brotherly Love
Ladonis Washington heard the front door chimes the second she stepped out of the shower. Jack? Had he changed his mind and come back to her? She stood there frozen in the moment, naked except for chill bumps. She could still see him standing in her bedroom doorway looking as if he couldn’t decide whether to jump her bones or beat the crap out of her.
Why couldn't Jack understand? She’d invested a lot of hard work and sacrifice, not to mention aggravation, in her job. Why would she want to move to California? Why would she want to leave New Orleans? How many black women from the Magnolia Housing Project earned an MBA and made it in the New Orleans business world? She’d cultivated relationships. Taken every opportunity to position herself for success. And he wanted her to quit?
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User Reviews
Author Comment:
Katrina exposed a New Orleans that most have not seen and would like to believe does not exist for the same reason much of the Black American experience is ignored in history books. I thought a mystery would put the real New Orleans front and center without preaching and teaching.
Topics/Categories:
Murder mystery, Pre-Katrina New Orleans
Genre:
Type of Work:
Publishers:
Awards:
2008 IPPY Awards Silver Medalist (Best Regional Fiction: South) 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist (Mystery/Suspense and Regional Fiction)
Original Publish Date:
September 1, 2007
Formats and associated ISBNs:
Hardcover: 9780977208128 Trade Paperback: 9780977208135
Formats:
Hardcover Trade Paperback
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