This is a really strong debut with a compelling plot and an excellent sense of time and place.
1959 in Cifornia feels as once sleepy and spikey, with resentment and unrest around every corner, with everyone both invested in and chafing against the status quo.
A housewife, Joyce, goes missing, and a new in town detective, Mick, is working to find her, out of his depth in the polished world of the upper middle class. Ruby, the housekeeper to the missing woman, is young, black, and torn in all directions, between ambition, family, loyalty, poverty, and the ever present spectre of overwhelming racism, as she tried to figure the mystery out.
The novel is split into 3 perspectives, Ruby, Mick, and Joyce's, though Joyce's is all vignettes from the day she goes missing. It's a nicely done structure, and while the culprit feels fairly predictable, there's enough of a smokescreen to make a very enjoyable read indeed.
1959 in Cifornia feels as once sleepy and spikey, with resentment and unrest around every corner, with everyone both invested in and chafing against the status quo.
A housewife, Joyce, goes missing, and a new in town detective, Mick, is working to find her, out of his depth in the polished world of the upper middle class. Ruby, the housekeeper to the missing woman, is young, black, and torn in all directions, between ambition, family, loyalty, poverty, and the ever present spectre of overwhelming racism, as she tried to figure the mystery out.
The novel is split into 3 perspectives, Ruby, Mick, and Joyce's, though Joyce's is all vignettes from the day she goes missing. It's a nicely done structure, and while the culprit feels fairly predictable, there's enough of a smokescreen to make a very enjoyable read indeed.