Ack! Many apologies, but this book came out too early for any 2023 book awards from nypl, and I'm sorry I didn't notice the release date before!

A heroine with problems, attitude, and smarts…

Rhode Island Red is the first in Charlotte Carter’s short three-book mystery series featuring street-smart (and also just plain smart) Nanette Hayes as the protagonist. Nan has a degree from Wellesley in French, with a minor in Music, that, as she describes it, was “scholarship all the way”. Now she’s trying to find her own path doing some translating jobs and busking on the street as a side gig. All of which gets turned upside-down when she gives another street musician a place to crash for a night, and he turns up dead on her floor. And then he turns out to have been an undercover cop. And Nanette gets pulled right into the middle of it all.

Rhode Island Red, which was first published almost twenty years ago, is still is an enjoyable read. In between the musical references and Nan’s attitude, both of which are right up front, there’s also a sweet little mystery. Who, or what, is Rhode Island Red, and how was the undercover cop involved? And there’s also some social commentary that still feels timely today.

All-in-all, I enjoyed Rhode Island Red, although I found Carter’s writing style to be a little jarring (for lack of a better word) for my taste. Still, I liked everything else about the book, and writing styles are definitely personal taste, so Rhode Island Red gets four stars from me. Which, since I try to not give too many five-star reviews, is a solid “read this book” recommendation. And my thanks to Vintage Crime/Black Lizard and Net Galley for the review copy!

Charlotte Carter was featured on the FreshFiction.com blog in an exclusive interview. You can see the interview here: https://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=11423

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

Rhode Island Red by Charlotte Carter is a mystery, infused with LOTS of jazz musician references. The jazz theme was what caught my interest as well as being a mystery. Rhode Island Red was originally published in 1997 and is the first in a series with Nanette Hayes, a young woman trying to make ends meet in New York as the protagonist.

The story begins with Nanette Hayes playing her saxophone on the sidewalks of New York City. She holds a degree in French with a minor in Music from Wellesley (scholarship all the way). However, she is not taking in a lot of money, when a smart-mouthed young man starts off by insulting her playing, and then moves on to declaring his (platonic) love for her. He says his name is Sig, and it turns out he’s looking for a place to crash for the night. Against her better judgment Nan agrees to let him stay the night in her apartment. And then it all begins…. With the murder of Sig right in her living room. What’s a girl to do but figure out how and why? There is more than meets the eye to this story and as you read it, you will discover some of the interesting twists and turns (I cannot ruin it for the next reader ☺).

I loved all the musical references, be it specific artists (like Parker, Rollins, Miles, Coltrane, etc. and her personal saviour – Thelonious Monk) to the fact that Nan busked on the street corners in New York. I must admit – I love her list of artists – some of my favourites as well!

I also liked Nan’s bestie – Aubrey. And the antagonism between Detective Leman Sweet and Nan did add to my enjoyment of the book. Nan had to work hard to prove herself to the detective. I think one of the passages I liked best was when she was describing Aubrey and herself:

“Aubrey was…well, not smart. Dumb was the blunt, casually cruel work the kids used. Strange how she turned out to be so pulled together. While I tend to be in tatters a good once a day. Where did that child prodigy shit get me?”

Much to my chagrin unfortunately, I did not enjoy the writing style of this book. I just found it did not flow particularly well for me. Additionally, another editing run through might (read would) have been helpful to remove many of the errors I came across. The pace of the book was a tad bit slow for my tastes. I did finish the book as I did enjoy all of the musical references… so much so that I did turn on some jazz while reading ☺

If you like mysteries with a bit of romance with a female protagonist, then Rhode Island Red might just be the book for you. It is a relatively quick read, so nothing ventured, nothing gained. I leave the rest of the books in the series for others to read.

Originally published in 1997, Rhode Island Red is returning with a brand new cover, and at the perfect time. The story is set in New York City, and we follow musician Nanette who is our Black Female protagonist of the story. We are introduced to her life, her struggles, and her passions. We quickly dive into a murder mystery, and the plot continues in a fast paced, first person narrative.
The writing is truly descriptive of a New York that once was, and it includes topics of racism as well as sexism, and what the main protagonist went through after a scene of a crime happened in her own apartment.
This is the first of three Nanette Hayes series. The second novel Coq Au Vin will be on sale August 3rd, followed by the third book Drumsticks on September 28th!

Rhode Island Red is the first instalment in the Nanette Hayes Mysteries series, and in this irreverent and original crime novel, a troop of adventures narrated in a humorous way follow one another to the brightest jazz rhythm. The endearing antiheroine who suffers from them is the young Nanette Hayes, a bohemian and amateur detective, who dreams of being sexier and becoming a black jazz star. At the moment, she is an expert in playing the tenor sax in the streets of New York and in looking for endless problems in the underworld, where she rubs shoulders with the most diverse and bizarre human fauna, enjoying life until a police officer of the secret appears assassinated in his house.

She is suddenly thrown on top of her by a perverse policeman, a strange and threatening couple who keep her under surveillance and a jazz-loving gangster who plays on her feelings. The body count rises and Nanette begins to track down one of jazz's great enigmas: Rhode Island Red. A compelling mystery novel that delves into the world of jazz music and how it is intimately and inextricably linked to African-American fiction and a raw and thought-provoking read. Despite its brevity, it manages to pack a lot of heart and nostalgia within its page count taking you on a richly atmospheric journey around the New York scene.

This is, at its heart, a cozy. Originally published in 1997, it's the story of Nanette, who some might term an underachiever given her education. She's playing music on the street to pay her bills and soothe her psyche. She doesn't know that Sig, who she allowed to spend the night on her couch, was an undercover cop until he's murdered with an ice pick. Oh and then there's the $60K. Fans of this genre know that Nanette is going to investigate and that's where this diverges from the traditional. Sig has a hateful partner, Nanette is more at risk than the usual suburban protagonist, and it's just a little different in so many other ways. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This was a treat.