Blanche Passes Go

Written by Barbara Neely

Narrated by Lisa Renee Pitts

The fourth, ground-breaking mystery featuring African-American maid and amateur sleuth Blanche White by Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award winning author Barbara Neely

Blanche White returns to Farleigh, North Carolina for the summer to help her best friend with her catering business. It's a homecoming rich with the potential for new romance and fraught with the pain of facing the man who raped her at knife-point years ago but was never prosecuted for the crime. Shortly after Blanche arrives, a young woman is murdered and the clues point to the rapist. Blanche investigates, determined not to let him get away with another crime . . . nor is she willing to let his money-hungry sister marry a sweet, mentally-challenged man for his wealth. With her usual persistence, feisty wit, and indomitable spirit, her quest for the truth reveals the racism and sexism that still permeate the new south, but also the conflicts that divide her own family . . . and that might prevent her from accepting the love she so richly deserves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Nov 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781515948469

Reviews for Blanche Passes Go

[Jenny deHart · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As always, Blanche offers her honest and wry take of the world, so appealing and identifiable to women of all colors.

[Mari Melting · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So sad that this is the last story in this absolutely wonderful series. So raw, honest, gut wrenching and ultimately uplifting. This is a series I will definitely reread.

[Dawn Rettinger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this entire series and am heartbroken that there will be no more. RIP Barbara Neely

[readingover50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an entertaining read. I can't say that I loved it, but it was enjoyable. I liked the character of Blanche, and her budding romance with Thelvin. The mystery was entertaining, but I didn't really like the resolution. Justice was not served. Maybe this was the point of the book, who knows. At times Blanche was a little too introspective, and had a tendency to read to much into people's motivations. Her relationship with Thelvin would have been a whole lot smoother if she didn't over analyze everything. The author tries to explain Blanche's fears, and it does make sense, but it also makes me wish she could just put aside her fears and go for the happiness.

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a four book series and this is the last of it. I've now read all four.Blanche is coming back to North Carolina to help her best friend, Ardell, with her catering business over the summer. Both Malek and Taifa are in their teens and working summer jobs, so Blanche is free to go. She is also coming back to face a man and an event, from her past, that have had sway on her life ever since.On the train down she meets Thelvin, and there seems to be an instant attraction between them. Thelvin is the conductor and just happens to live in Durham, which is in close proximity to where Blanche will be staying in Farleigh. This thread of attraction runs through the book and is also influenced by Blanche's past.Blanche is happy to be back and see Ardell. It is topped off when she finds that she will be living in the Miz Alice: the little two room cottage built by Ardell's Uncle Russell and named for the first, and pretty much only, tenant to move in, Miz Alice. This gives Blance privacy and freedom. Freedom to investigate into the life of the man whose actions caused Blanche to flee her town in the first place.There are twists and turns, and Blanche has to really pry to get any information. It seems the place may consider itself to be part of the New South, but not much has really changed in the relationship between the blacks and whites. The information she is able to uncover and the reactions among the white community lead to unexpected results, for Blanche, her investigation and the people she is investigating.