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ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Long Long Afternoon in Books

Mar 2, 2021  
The Long Long Afternoon
The Long Long Afternoon
Inga Vesper | 2021 | Crime, Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Long, Long Afternoon really gives a sense of time and place - and I loved that about this book. We’re steeped in the 1950’s suburban world of perfect housewives, dosed up on their happy pills, trapped in their blissful domestic lives, keeping a perfect home and looking their best at all times for their hardworking husbands. Meanwhile, they employ black maids for a pitiful wage, taking advantage of them and treating them appallingly.
Ruby Wright arrives to start her afternoons work at Joyce Hanley’s house, and instead finds her young daughter outside and a screaming toddler upstairs in her bedroom. When Ruby goes in to the kitchen, she is confronted with a room awash with blood and signs of a struggle.
When the police arrive, they arrest Ruby for murder. After all, she was the first person there - and she’s black.
Detective Mick Blanke takes on the case. It’s an interesting book, because not only is Mick solving the crime (with some considerable help from Ruby), he’s also showing the social divides in the USA at this time - rich and poor, black and white. He’s clearly not comfortable about the way that white people treat black people in Santa Monica, but he’s still not quite brave enough to call people out on their racism.
This is an engaging, quick read - or perhaps I read it quickly because I didn’t want to put it down. It’s a clever, unpredictable story. In all, it’s a book I’d recommend without hesitation!