Review of Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (2017, Mulholland)

Darren Mathews’ career as a Texas Ranger looks like it could be over, as well as his marriage. While both are in hiatus, an old friend points him to a pair of murders in the tiny settlement of Lark, which is little more than a pit stop on Highway 59. The first murder was a black lawyer from Chicago, the second a couple of days later, a local white woman. The local sheriff doesn’t want a Texas Ranger looking over his shoulder, especially a black one, and the locals are not happy he’s there either, especially those who attend a local bar where members of the Aryan Brotherhood hang out. Undeterred and determined to discover the truth before he loses his badge, Mathews starts to poke around, annoying just about everyone he encounters, including the wife of the dead lawyer. There are secrets in Lark, however, that nobody on either side of the racial divide wants revealed.

Bluebird, Bluebird is a police procedural set in East Texas centered on the investigation of a pair of murders by Texas Ranger, Darren Mathews. Race, family and community are its central hooks, explored through the killing of a black lawyer and a white woman in a small, rural settlement, and the turmoil in Mathews own life. Mathews is battling a number of issues at work and home – a career being derailed, a marriage on the rocks, a guardian pushing for a career change, a dysfunctional mother, an obstructionist local sheriff, and drink. The murders in Lark are a chance to redeem his career, and also to potentially contribute to the ongoing investigation to Aryan Brotherhood operating in the state. But little goes well after his arrival in Lark. Racial tension is high, and a black ranger is unwelcome. Locke nicely balances Mathew’s personal life with the investigation of an intriguing mystery, using both to provide an insightful social commentary on institutionalised racism in the Deep South. The story is well paced, the prose evocative, and the there’s a couple of nice twists. A strong start to the series.

Review of Pleasantville by Attica Locke (2015, Serpent’s Tail)

1996, Houston.  Former police of chief Axel Hathorne is running to become the first black mayor of the city.  Pleasantville, a planned neighbourhood built in the 1950s, is a key battleground district.  It’s Hathorne territory, with Axel’s father being a founder and key community leader.  When a young woman disappears while campaign volunteering it sets the community on edge, especially as two other women were sexually assaulted and murdered in previous years.  Then Axel’s son is first accused of being complicit in her disappearance, then when her body is found, murder.  Given the thin complicit evidence and Axel’s main rival is the attorney general, whose office is prosecuting the case, it appears that some very dirty politics is at play.  Pleasantville native, activist and environmental lawyer, Jay Porter, is hired to represent Axel’s son, despite having little criminal trial experience. Porter has his own problems given the death of his wife a year ago, a break-in at his office, and someone trying to steal his clients.  But he’s tenacious and he detests injustice.  However, there are powerful forces at work that have a larger agenda and are prepared to play hardball.

Pleasantville is a political and legal thriller set in Houston in 1996.  As well as telling a complex tale of murder and political and community skulduggery, Locke also provides insightful social commentary on communities in transition, election campaigning, environmental racism and long-term legal battles.  The wider context is the Clinton years and the Republican long-term strategy for a run on the White House in 2000. The story has many interlocking moving parts that all swirl around the Hathorne family and Jay Porter.  The Hathorne’s helped found Pleasantville, a planned black community, and Axel is running to be the city’s first black mayor.  Porter is a single father, activist and environmental lawyer who has been seeking damages for local residents from contamination.  While there are a number of subplots, the hook of the story is the disappearance and murder of a young female campaign volunteer and how her death is used politically and personally.  Given the various threads, the number of characters and the social and political commentary it’s an ambitious tale.  Overall, it mostly delivers on this ambition.  At the start there is a lot of moving pieces into place and introducing characters and threads that dulls the pace and demands concentration, but as the story progresses the intrigue, tension and pace increases, and Locke makes some interesting observations about racial and environmental issues and local/national US politics.