Alice B. reviewed on 12/20/2014 + 3559 more book reviews

When her mother's elderly neighbor is shot in an apparent drive-by, Theresa Galloway finds herself prowling the streets of Sacramento in search of the killer and the dead woman's missing grandchild. In this world of crackheads and gangsters, Theresa's in over her head, but we soon see her rolling in the dirt in her Ann Klein outfit, ducking gunfire, breaking her fiberglass nails, and losing her pumps. This mystery, Grimes's first in a series starring this "intrepid soul sister" and married mother of two, won Anthony Awards for best first novel and best paperback original in 1997. Theresa is a reluctant sleuth but an appealing narrator: witty, affable, and somewhat prudish, driven as much by her domineering mother as by curiosity. Somebody Else's Child is told in her fresh and lively voice, and it's full of both smart dialogue and deftly drawn characters. Theresa's "rather excitable" mother and the children are especially well crafted.
Much of the drama here comes from Theresa's attempts to balance her job, family, and amateur-detective work, which no one seems to take seriously. Before long, it looks like Theresa's job at the California Department of Environmental Equity is being taken over by a foul-mouthed underling, her husband is having an affair with her old nemesis, and her children are running wild. Add to this the vague hostility of the white world--which works less as social commentary than as subtly realistic detail--and the sense of pervasive jeopardy escalates. When things get stressful, Theresa retreats to her bathtub.

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