The Blanche White Mysteries by Barbara Neely

"Barbara Neely has, while writing a mystery novel about Blanche White, also written about race and class in America from the perspective of a character whose voice is rarely heard in fiction: an intelligent, perceptive, poor working-class black woman with a wry sense of humour and a healthy sense of place" 
—Linda Ellerbee

"How refreshing to read a story told from the no-holds-barred perspective of a contemporary black working woman. Blanche not only solves crimes, but with insight and humor protrays self-loving strategies for meeting the everyday challenges that some many sisters face." 
—Barbara Smith

"Blanche White is back -- talking trash, telling truth and treating anybody who reads her new tale to a very good time, indeed!" 
—Valerie Wilson-Wesley

Blanche on the Lam (A Blanche White Mystery)
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Author:  Barbara Neely
Publisher:  Viking Penguin
Date Published:  January 1993
Format:  Trade Paper

Blanche White lends a refreshing African-American, female twist to the mystery tradition, as she turns from domestic worker to insightful--if reluctant--sleuth. A middle-aged housekeeper with a strong sense of humor, Blanche becomes an unlikely yet ingenious sleuth when murder disrupts the wealthy household of her employers.

 

Blanche Among the Talented Tenth (A Blanche White Mystery)
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Author:  Barbara Neely
Publisher:  The Penguin Group
Date Published:  August 1995
Format:  Trade Paper

When Blanche White, black domestic worker extraordinaire, moved north to Boston, she thought it would be a better place to raise her kids, especially when she managed to get them both into a private school. But they appear to be getting as much attitude as education, as they start correcting Blanche's English and acting snotty about homeless people. When Blanche and the kids are invited to Amber Cove, an exclusive, all-black resort in Maine, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to observe her children with their wealthy friends and try to figure out how to stop them from becoming people she doesn't want to know. Along the way, Blanche gets an insider's view of the color and class divisions within the black community. Blanche stands out against the light-skinned, college-educated residents at Amber Cove, and some of the guests make sure she knows it - including her own daughter. But when one of the guests has a fatal accident and the godson of a famous septuagenarian feminist commits suicide, Blanche is enlisted to find out if these events are connected. What she discovers is a web of secrets that somebody may be willing to kill for, even as she meets a man determined to sweep her off her feet, no matter how much she weighs.

 

Blanche Cleans Up
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Author:  Barbara Neely
Publisher:  Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Date Published:  March 1998
Format:  Trade Cloth

Blanche White is a very black, middle-aged woman who cleans white people's houses for a living. Tart-tongued and shrewd, with a keen nose for trouble, she's also a queen-sized snoop - who sees at a glance what people are really up to - especially if it's criminal. It's been three years since she had to grab the kids and scurry out of Farleigh, North Carolina. Now they've all settled into life in the Roxbury section of Boston, and Blanche herself is feeling like she may finally be free to enjoy life - at least a little. But before Blanche can say, "Breakfast is ready," she gets suckered into standing in as cook-housekeeper to one Allister Brindle, a Boston Brahmin politician, and his do-gooder wife. Blanche is quickly enmeshed in a festering canker of a scandal that moves from the Brindles' house (a.k.a. Prozac House) to her own black community as she tries to figure out the truth behind the swimming-pool death of a young black man who knew a little too much.