Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

 

Recently, I ran across a reference to Barbara Neely and her books, and made a note to give one a try. After all, I am a fan of murder mysteries, and these seemed like a unique take on the genre. 

Barbara Neely was an African-American author and activist, with a fascinating life story. 

 

She grew up in Pennsylvania, in an area where there were still a lot of “Pennsylvania Dutch” people - a subculture of German dialect speakers with a significant Mennonite and Amish numbers, although Lutherans are also represented. 

 

This meant that she was not only the only black kid at her private school, she was the only child fluent in English. Yeah, that’s a bit unique. 

 

As an adult, she obtained her masters degree at University of Pittsburg, then became involved in local activism and non-profit work. Among these were directing a branch of the YWCA, and managing groups related to housing, reproductive healthcare access, and rehabilitation of former inmates. 

 

She started writing at this time, but didn’t have a breakthrough until age 50, with Blanche on the Lam. She would go on to write three more Blanche books that decade. 

 

Describing this book is a bit difficult, because it is several things all at once. It is a murder mystery - with a good plot, and a surprising amount of humor to go with the suspense. It is a satire that lampoons rich southern white people, with a really razor edge. It is a commentary on racism in America, from biased policing to the casual dehumanization and infantilization inflicted on black people - particularly black women - in our country. It is a pointed look at marginalization through the perspective of a young man with Down Syndrome. It also examines the way white women are able to use their gender to get away with figurative - and sometimes literal - murder. 

 

So yes, it definitely has some preachy moments about race - we are inside the head of the protagonist, Blanche White (yeah, the name is played for a few jokes too), as she endures the experience of being a black female domestic worker for rich, entitled white people. And she is plenty salty about it, although rarely out loud. 

 

But the fun story and the delicious humor make it go down pretty pleasantly. 

 

I would also say that, particularly for 35 years ago, the idea of a protagonist in a murder mystery being not merely black, but also low-income, “traditionally built,” and thoroughly aware of the toxic racial dynamics of the modern south. It’s a bold choice of character in a way, but also thoroughly believable and consistent. Neely writes of what she knows, I suspect: being assumed to be stupid and lazy simply because of skin color. 

 

The title comes from the opening of the story. Blanche, like many in our country, but especially the low income workers, often female, who have unstable employment conditions, has fallen behind. As a result, she has had a check bounce, and is prosecuted for it. Because she has bounced a check before, an unsympathetic judge sentences her to jail time. 

 

But before she can serve it, a disturbance related to a corrupt politician whose case is in the courthouse at the same time, allows her to quietly slip out and go on the lam. 

 

She ends up taking a job working for a rich white family with political connections, and spends a week at their summer house, where, well, things happen. 

 

There is the childless married couple, Grace and Everett. There is Aunt Emmeline, Grace’s aunt, who has the money in the family. And there is Mumsfield, Grace’s cousin, who has Down Syndrome, but is also a skilled mechanic and more observant than his relatives realize. 

 

About half the book goes by before we have the first body - the sheriff, who is pretty horrible, has an argument with Everett, and then winds up dead in what is officially called a suicide. 

 

Once things get going, though, the bodies start piling up, and things get tense really fast. 

 

I won’t get into the plot any more than that - you will have to read it yourself. 

 

The books were written in the 1990s, but have apparently had a bit of a revival. The entire series was recorded as audiobooks in 2017, so I should be able to listen to them all eventually. 

 

The narrator is Lisa Renee Pitts, who has been on large and small screens, with award-winning results. I thought she did a great job on this audiobook, bringing out all the different Southern accents, character voices, and nuances of the text. Her work definitely contributes to the experience of the novel.