I’m one of those readers who thinks fiction authors should be free to create characters and plots, and they don’t have to be the same gender or race as the protagonist. It will be interesting to see what the crime fiction community says about Snowden Wright’s The Queen City Detective Agency, a novel that features a bi-racial female ex-cop turned PI in Meridian, Mississippi in the 1980s. While the story dragged at times, the tone seemed right for 1985 in Reagan’s south, where it’s “Morning in America”.

It’s not easy to be a woman, an ex-cop turned PI, and bi-racial, presenting Black in 1985 in the South. Clementine Baldwin is a hard-drinking PI whose white father is in prison, and her rage is directed at him and herself as much as it is directed at every white prejudiced person in Meridian. Two years earlier, she was forced to hire a white Vietnam vet, still remembered as a star quarterback. Dixon Hicks became a friend, and even read books Clem recommended so he could try to understand her anger and viewpoint. Hicks is the good guy in their partnership, and clients will talk with him while ignoring Clem.

Turnip Coogan flew off the jail while in custody for killing a local powerbroker. Turnip said it was murder for hire, and the man’s widow is the one who hired him. Now, while Turnip’s death is ruled suicide, his mother is convinced otherwise. She hires the Queen City Detective Agency to prove her son was murdered.

Clem and Dixon have a complex case on their hands, an investigation that goes from the jail to trailer parks to country clubs and a cockfight. Their investigation is overshadowed by rumors of the Dixie Mafia, a powerful group that may have hired a hit man to kill the developer who was making money building shopping centers and stores in the Black community. A few people hint the Dixie Mafia may be the offspring of the Ku Klux Klan, while most say there’s no such thing. But, someone is trying to kill Clem and Dixon to stop their investigation.

While I really liked Clem, Dixon, and several other characters, the story is a little slow to develop. However, Wright does an excellent job in creating the atmosphere of the 1980s in the South. Clem has to contend with racism and gender bias. Hmm. The Queen City Detective Agency may have as much to say about our present climate as it does about Meridian, Mississippi in Reagan’s America.

Snowden Wright’s website is https://snowdenwright.com/

The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright. William Morrow, 2024. ISBN 9780062963581 (hardcover), 272p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley through NetGalley to review for a journal.