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Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Book Review: A diary sends a woman on a quest to solve the cold case of 6 missing Black girls
At age 13, Sydney Singleton discovered an old photograph tucked away in a drawer in her paternal grandmother's guest room. It was a portrait of a Black girl just entering her teen years — a girl who looked a lot like Sydney. Next morning, Sydney asked her grandmother about it. The woman, her voice 'firm as the oak tree on her front lawn,' would say only this: 'We don't talk about Carol.' Two decades later, Sydney, now a married woman in her mid-30s, flies from her Los Angeles home to Raleigh, North Carolina, to help prepare her late grandmother's home for sale. There, she and her younger sister, Sasha, find the photograph again. They also find Carol's diary concealed above a ceiling panel in the guest room closet. So begins Kristen L. Berry's fine debut novel, 'We Don't Talk About Carol,' a tale that is at once an exploration of family secrets, a 60-year-old cold case investigation and a damning indictment of the short shrift missing Black girls get from both the authorities and the media. Carol, it turns out, was Sydney's late father's older sister. Her diary, written when she was about 16, reveals that she had an older boyfriend, aspired to be a singer and planned to run away to Detroit to try out with Motown. Carol's family, believing the child had run off, never filed a missing person report. So Sydney, a former investigative reporter, feels compelled to discover what happened to the aunt she never knew existed. Before long, she learns that Carol was one of six Black teenage girls who disappeared from the same Raleigh neighborhood 60 years ago and were dismissed as runaways by the police. Sydney's investigation promptly turns into a quest to learn the fates of all of them. Along the way, she finds allies among the missing girls' families, cold crime podcast enthusiasts and a Raleigh homicide detective. The result is a well-written, emotionally wrenching tale about the generational consequences of evil, the meaning of family and what a single dedicated woman can accomplish. After the diary is discovered, the plot unfolds slowly as the author introduces us to Sydney's suicidal father, her emotionally distant mother and her struggle to conceive a baby with her loving husband, Malik. The pace could lead some readers to abandon the book, but don't. The tale soon picks up speed, taking readers through propulsive a series of revelations, the most sunning of which involves Carol's fate. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___ AP book reviews:
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Book Review: A diary sends a woman on a quest to solve the cold case of 6 missing Black girls
At age 13, Sydney Singleton discovered an old photograph tucked away in a drawer in her paternal grandmother's guest room. It was a portrait of a Black girl just entering her teen years — a girl who looked a lot like Sydney. Next morning, Sydney asked her grandmother about it. The woman, her voice 'firm as the oak tree on her front lawn,' would say only this: 'We don't talk about Carol.' Two decades later, Sydney, now a married woman in her mid-30s, flies from her Los Angeles home to Raleigh, North Carolina, to help prepare her late grandmother's home for sale. There, she and her younger sister, Sasha, find the photograph again. They also find Carol's diary concealed above a ceiling panel in the guest room closet. So begins Kristen L. Berry's fine debut novel, 'We Don't Talk About Carol,' a tale that is at once an exploration of family secrets, a 60-year-old cold case investigation and a damning indictment of the short shrift missing Black girls get from both the authorities and the media. Carol, it turns out, was Sydney's late father's older sister. Her diary, written when she was about 16, reveals that she had an older boyfriend, aspired to be a singer and planned to run away to Detroit to try out with Motown. Carol's family, believing the child had run off, never filed a missing person report. So Sydney, a former investigative reporter, feels compelled to discover what happened to the aunt she never knew existed. Before long, she learns that Carol was one of six Black teenage girls who disappeared from the same Raleigh neighborhood 60 years ago and were dismissed as runaways by the police. Sydney's investigation promptly turns into a quest to learn the fates of all of them. Along the way, she finds allies among the missing girls' families, cold crime podcast enthusiasts and a Raleigh homicide detective. The result is a well-written, emotionally wrenching tale about the generational consequences of evil, the meaning of family and what a single dedicated woman can accomplish. After the diary is discovered, the plot unfolds slowly as the author introduces us to Sydney's suicidal father, her emotionally distant mother and her struggle to conceive a baby with her loving husband, Malik. The pace could lead some readers to abandon the book, but don't. The tale soon picks up speed, taking readers through propulsive a series of revelations, the most sunning of which involves Carol's fate. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.'
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Book Review: A diary sends a woman on a quest to solve the cold case of 6 missing Black girls
At age 13, Sydney Singleton discovered an old photograph tucked away in a drawer in her paternal grandmother's guest room. It was a portrait of a Black girl just entering her teen years — a girl who looked a lot like Sydney. Next morning, Sydney asked her grandmother about it. The woman, her voice 'firm as the oak tree on her front lawn,' would say only this: 'We don't talk about Carol.' Two decades later, Sydney, now a married woman in her mid-30s, flies from her Los Angeles home to Raleigh, North Carolina, to help prepare her late grandmother's home for sale. There, she and her younger sister, Sasha, find the photograph again. They also find Carol's diary concealed above a ceiling panel in the guest room closet. So begins Kristen L. Berry's fine debut novel, 'We Don't Talk About Carol,' a tale that is at once an exploration of family secrets, a 60-year-old cold case investigation and a damning indictment of the short shrift missing Black girls get from both the authorities and the media. Carol, it turns out, was Sydney's late father's older sister. Her diary, written when she was about 16, reveals that she had an older boyfriend, aspired to be a singer and planned to run away to Detroit to try out with Motown. Carol's family, believing the child had run off, never filed a missing person report. So Sydney, a former investigative reporter, feels compelled to discover what happened to the aunt she never knew existed. Before long, she learns that Carol was one of six Black teenage girls who disappeared from the same Raleigh neighborhood 60 years ago and were dismissed as runaways by the police. Sydney's investigation promptly turns into a quest to learn the fates of all of them. Along the way, she finds allies among the missing girls' families, cold crime podcast enthusiasts and a Raleigh homicide detective. The result is a well-written, emotionally wrenching tale about the generational consequences of evil, the meaning of family and what a single dedicated woman can accomplish. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. After the diary is discovered, the plot unfolds slowly as the author introduces us to Sydney's suicidal father, her emotionally distant mother and her struggle to conceive a baby with her loving husband, Malik. The pace could lead some readers to abandon the book, but don't. The tale soon picks up speed, taking readers through propulsive a series of revelations, the most sunning of which involves Carol's fate. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___ AP book reviews:
Hamilton Spectator
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Book Review: A detective banished defies orders not to investigate a murder in ‘Nightshade'
Detective Sergeant Stillwell of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been banished from the homicide division. His sin: accusing his former partner of dropping a murder case for lack of evidence when, according to Stillwell, there was plenty of it. Branding him a troublemaker, his superiors packed him off to Catalina Island and put him in charge of a small, backwater office where cases normally range from petty theft to drunk and disorderly. This was supposed to be punishment, but Stillwell likes it. The island is beautiful. Recently divorced, he's already found a new love there. And he's relieved that he's free of department politics — or so he thinks. In 'Nightshade,' Stillwell is introduced as a new series character by Michael Connelly, whose other repeating protagonists, including Harry Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer, are regulars on the bestseller lists and subjects of popular television series. Like Bosch, Stillwell doesn't bow to authority and is relentless in pursuit of justice for crime victims. However, he's younger, easier to get along with, and seemingly less prone to violence. The trouble starts when a workman scraping barnacles from the hull of a yacht discovers the body of a woman bound to an anchor at the bottom of the harbor. The local mayor, whose main concern is attracting tourists and developers to the island, demands that the case be handled quietly. In his new role, Stillwell is required to turn the investigation over to the homicide division on the mainland, but when his former partner is assigned to the case — and ultimately arrests the wrong man — Stillwell again defies authority and launches his own investigation. In the end, he not only identifies the real killer but exposes the kind of dark conspiracy he thought he'd escaped when he moved to the island. At first, the plot unfolds slowly as the author introduces a new community of characters, but soon the pace picks up. As always with a Connelly novel, the characters are well drawn and the prose is tight, precise, and easy to read. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___ AP book reviews:
San Francisco Chronicle
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Book Review: A detective banished defies orders not to investigate a murder in 'Nightshade'
Detective Sergeant Stillwell of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been banished from the homicide division. His sin: accusing his former partner of dropping a murder case for lack of evidence when, according to Stillwell, there was plenty of it. Branding him a troublemaker, his superiors packed him off to Catalina Island and put him in charge of a small, backwater office where cases normally range from petty theft to drunk and disorderly. This was supposed to be punishment, but Stillwell likes it. The island is beautiful. Recently divorced, he's already found a new love there. And he's relieved that he's free of department politics — or so he thinks. In 'Nightshade,' Stillwell is introduced as a new series character by Michael Connelly, whose other repeating protagonists, including Harry Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer, are regulars on the bestseller lists and subjects of popular television series. Like Bosch, Stillwell doesn't bow to authority and is relentless in pursuit of justice for crime victims. However, he's younger, easier to get along with, and seemingly less prone to violence. The trouble starts when a workman scraping barnacles from the hull of a yacht discovers the body of a woman bound to an anchor at the bottom of the harbor. The local mayor, whose main concern is attracting tourists and developers to the island, demands that the case be handled quietly. In his new role, Stillwell is required to turn the investigation over to the homicide division on the mainland, but when his former partner is assigned to the case — and ultimately arrests the wrong man — Stillwell again defies authority and launches his own investigation. In the end, he not only identifies the real killer but exposes the kind of dark conspiracy he thought he'd escaped when he moved to the island. At first, the plot unfolds slowly as the author introduces a new community of characters, but soon the pace picks up. As always with a Connelly novel, the characters are well drawn and the prose is tight, precise, and easy to read. Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___
