I don’t like leaving a bad review so I’m going to say it was likely reader-error. I wanted to like the story. To be fair, I’d never read anything by Patricia Raybon before and this is a sequel with lots of things that have happened in the previous books. I’m not sure if it was the voice, the pacing, but I found myself frustrated and skipping through to get it done—even though the characters were interesting and the story far from dull.

This book was another exciting entry in the Anna Lee Spain mystery series. We enjoyed the book and talked about it in more detail in our interview with the author! You can find it linked below!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy. Truth Be Told is a mystery in which Annalee is trying to do two things. 1) Determine the identity of dead young woman and 2) determine the woman's cause of death. In addition to Annalee’s investigation, the book delves into racism (set in 1920s), classism in the black community, black carnivals, and a romance. The pace was medium to slow. There are several church scenes, but the book doesn’t come off as preachy. The mystery is a little convoluted, which makes the book more interesting. If you like a mystery set against a historical backdrop and spanning several years, this book is for you. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

Since the author did such a fantastic job of not only bringing the characters to life but also the cruelty Annalee witnessed,. It was horrifying and difficult to read. I began to tear up, and my heart ached as I read this gripping novel. I discovered that I needed to take a moment to reflect on the experiences and hardships the characters endured. There are lessons to be learned from this historical fiction piece.

I love Annalee's honest thoughts about doing the right thing. She spoke with sincerity. Nobody appreciates Annalee's efforts to find the young woman's murderer because she’s thought of as hired help and dismissed. I thought this case was creative in how flowers played a big role in tracking down the killer.

The fact that Annalee was doing her hardest to be a detective (in a male-dominated profession) at a risky time drew me in even more when I saw her passion for Sherlock Holmes work.

You don't want to miss this engaging story full of twists, turns, and dangerous situations. Annalee barely makes it through. Your book club will love Annalee, the mystery, danger, and natural faith thread as Annalee gathers the puzzle pieces needed to solve this case.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I requested and received a copy of this book by the publisher and NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Nora St Laurent
TBCN: Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog: https://psalm516.blogspot.com/

Thanks to NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This is the third in the Annalee Spain Mystery series, and I have read the other two. You could easily start with this one. But you’ll also want to go back and read the first two because they’re all great, as “Raybon writes at the daring intersection of faith and race.”

The murder mysteries feature Annalee Spain, a young Black woman in the racially hostile environment of 1920s Denver, CO. She tries to fight crime and solve murders “because victims deserve it.” She feels responsible to expose “misadventures so wronged people wouldn’t be simply dead and gone, and then forgotten.”

In addition to a variety of expressive characters that help to create the circumstances with realistic emotions, award-winning author Raybon delivers a well-researched historical setting that made me feel I was right in the middle of 1920s Denver. The racial tension reminded me of The Invention of Wings and The Help, even though all three novels take place in different time periods.

In this novel each chapter begins with a quote from Sherlock Holmes, Annalee’s role model. And the themes of flowers and missing mothers are woven into the story along with secrets, romance, and lies. One aspect that takes this mystery a notch above is the theme of faith. Many of the characters have an authentic spiritual belief that brings a satisfying depth to the story.

This was a real page-turner for me, and I was sorry when the story came to an end. I’m looking forward to Annalee’s next adventure.

Truth Be Told is book 3 in the engaging Annalee Spain Mystery series. The story can easily be read on its own but you don’t want to miss the first two! Amateur detective Professor Annalee Spain is the most engaging character. This book has difficult, emotional moments confronting ugly race issues and practices in 1920’s Denver but following Annalee as she tries to solve a murder is both captivating and engaging making it a really enjoyable mystery.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tyndall Publishing for the opportunity to read for my honest review.

This is the first time I’m reading this author and I really enjoyed this book. The plot was very interesting and the struggle the character had to deal with made her even stronger. The pacing was really good and I didn’t get bored with the story as I thought I would. I highly recommend this book.

“The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still… His kingdom is forever!”

Each new book in this series is better than the last and each new cover gets more gorgeous, and they’ve all – stories and covers – been excellent! Truth Be Told is no exception – in fact, it’s my favorite of the three so far. Every word is pitch perfect and, on several reasons, so poetically descriptive that I re-read the sentence or phrase a couple of times just to fully savor it. This is also, in my opinion, the most emotional of the three even though the murder case is the least personal for Annalee. (More on that in a moment)

I love Annalee, our intrepid Sherlock-savvy professor-turned-amateur-sleuth. She’s authentic and smart and a layered combination of tender-hearted and no-nonsense. She can absolutely take care of herself, but she also knows that she is better with a community of support. In this series, that community comes in the form of her swoony sweetie Pastor Jack Blake, a precocious orphan named Eddie, and her ‘little coterie of church-lady buddies’. Truth Be Told also expands her support network to include several other unexpected allies, including a borrowed dog named Bullet, a beloved figure from history, and some members of a traveling ‘colored carnival’. Each of these supporting characters – familiar and new – are so vibrantly crafted by the author, so that you feel as if you really do know them. And I know I would be hanging out with them in real life were such a thing possible with fictional characters.

But dear readers, in Truth Be Told, Patricia Raybon didn’t just entertain me… she also took me to church and took me to my knees. I honestly felt like I had joined Jack’s church in worshiping and crying out to Jesus during one particularly powerful service on Hope in the face of senseless hate, that’s how deeply she immersed me in this story. Another scene – the one that actually precipitated that worship service I just spoke of – left me grieving at the atrocious things we can do to fellow human beings in the name of fear, arrogance, ignorance, and just plain evil. I had to put the book down for a few minutes and spent some time praying the name of Jesus, through tears, over what I had just read. Oh Jesus, forgive us.

Bottom Line: Truth Be Told by Patricia Raybon is a multifaceted novel that can be enjoyed on several different levels. On the one hand, it’s a fascinating mystery with complex layers and clever red herrings that roped me in, kept me guessing, and ultimately took me by surprise. On the other hand, it’s a swoony and incredibly tender romance between Annalee and Jack, one that’s been simmering since book one and continues to march toward a forever kind of relationship (one that I’m cheering loudly for). Still deeper, this is a thoughtful and sometimes raw spotlight on a painful period of history, one where ‘good people’ looked the other way as horrendous sins were committed against image bearers of God, allowing evil to look as though it would triumph. But it’s also an altar call for Hope, for repentance, for ‘boots on’ toward justice, and God’s truth. This is a story that engaged my emotions and entertained me, while also leaving me different at the end than I was at the beginning. Brava, Ms. Raybon! Onward!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

REVIEW TO BE PUBLISHED IN NEXT FEW WEEKS

Truth Be Told is the third book in the Annalee Spain mystery series. Set in Denver in the Early 1920s, the books chronicle the hold the Klu Klux Klan has on the state of Colorado, the dangers faced by the Black community of the time, and how one woman, a theologian by trade, has turned to detective work to ensure justice is done for all against incredible odds.

It’s not Annalee’s usual scene. She’s been in the papers a lot for her recent success at solving crime and (somewhat) bringing powerful people to account, or she wouldn’t have been invited to this elite political fundraiser. It’s being held in the lavish garden of Cooper Coates, a famed political fixer and power player who is not a big fan of Annalee. He’s one of the wealthiest men in Denver’s infamous Black neighborhood of Five Points, and his pull is such that he has Blacks and whites mingling freely at his event. In Klan-controlled Denver, where a Black cabbie can be killed for picking up a white lady looking for a ride, this is quite the coup. But his success quickly turns to ashes when his daughter comes screaming out of the greenhouse, claiming there’s a dead woman inside. At first, he tells her to stop being theatrical, but a quick search by some of the partygoers reveals that someone is lying in a crumpled heap among the plants and yard tools.

This isn’t Annalee’s first unfortunate discovery in a backyard this summer. She had been planting in her far more humble patch of lawn (if the scraggly area behind her home could be called that) when she found an old tin container and, within it, a letter giving her a very limited set of clues as to her mother's identity. Given a choice between unearthing a decades-old secret that is personally painful and a fresh, possibly dangerous, investigation into a recent murder, Annalee promptly chooses to focus on the latter.

Calling upon the aide of her trustee sidekicks, the young white orphan Eddie, who traveled with Annalee from Chicago to Denver, and Annalee’s pastor boyfriend Jack Blake, she sets out to discover just who the mystery woman in the garden shed is and why she died in the home of one of Denver’s most influential men.

It’s always difficult to tell people whether or not to read a series in order or if a novel can be read on its own. In this case, while the mystery is resolved within one volume, understanding the relationships between all the characters and getting a thorough grasp of the Klan and how and why they had such power requires reading at least the first story.

The strong point of these tales is that history and how people navigated their daily lives in such difficult conditions. From lynchings in Alabama to the murders of inconvenient young Black women in Colorado, we get a glimpse of the world as it really was. Something that makes these narratives especially poignant is how human decency warred with a sense of survival. Many people - Black and white - hated the wrong that was happening but had learned through the brutal examples of what happened to their peers that it was unwise to stand up and fight back. Annalee recognizes and empathizes with this but quietly pushes back anyway.

I like her soft, wise, dignified approach to the world she lives in. Annalee combines a nice mix of humble, intelligent, intuitive, compassionate, and practical. She cares about the people around her enough to fight for them, but she is smart enough to know that she needs to do so in ways that don’t destroy what she is trying to save. She accepts setbacks with grace and treats most people around her with dignity and respect. I love how she navigates her treacherous environment.

I did have some struggles with the book, though. While the history is nothing less than outstanding, the crime-solving in the saga often falls short, and Truth Be Told is no exception. People often just tell Annalee what is happening; she doesn’t really need to do much sleuthing at all. I was also a bit disappointed that Jack is once more regulated to the back burner. I have seen snails move more briskly than this romance.

Ms. Raybon is an author of color who writes about an area with which she is very familiar. She brings a lot of authenticity to her work, but that does mean including some language that modern readers might find uncomfortable. I appreciated the honesty with which she addressed the period, but those who are sensitive to such issues should know that the author shows things as they were, not how we wish they had been.

I also appreciated the inclusion of the historical figure George Washington Carver. It is wonderful to see his approach to faith and life and its effect on Annalee and some of the others with whom he interacted.

This book is an inspirational and shows faith flourishing in the midst of incredible odds. Especially poignant is the emphasis on the centrality of the Black church to their community, how they helped each other through tough times, and how that influenced Annalee’s investigations.

Truth Be Told can be a difficult read. Some of the events described are horrific and can leave one with little faith in humanity. The good news is that the story is balanced - showing how brave men and women worked hard to achieve the change we see now. I recommend this to anyone who loves history and isn’t afraid to spend time looking at the dark side of it.

This was such an enjoyable read. Annalee was determined, and I loved that about her. I also enjoyed that it contained a small romance arc for us romance stans. There were a lot of twists and turns, and I was not able to guess who did it until the end. I read the first book in the series, and havent had the chamce to read book 2 in the series, but was able to follow this story with no issues, so it read as a stand alone. I do plan to go back and read the second book in the series

Truth Be Told brought to mind the powerful narratives a grandmother weaves about the past, holding your attention until she’s done speaking. The story was taken over by Professor Annalee Spain’s voice, leaving me captivated and eager to uncover the identity of the person who poisoned a young black woman, in a time when our worth is diminished.

The addition of charming details, like discussions about flowers and a comical mishap with a roast, brought laughter and relief to an otherwise gloomy moment in Black history. That poor husband on the bus. I don’t have words to express how vivid the moment felt. I can’t fathom living in that era. What I really love is that the author referenced one of my favorite Psalms and even talked about my absolute favorite verses. I received this book through Net Galley and was not required to give a positive review.

This is the third book that features amateur detective Annalee Spain, a young black theologian who courageously pushes forward with her investigations despite danger to herself. Set in 1924 in Denver, Colorado, the novel highlights the racism at the heart of American society at the time – and some of the tensions still at large today.

The first chapter opens with Annalee at a political fundraiser in the back garden of Cooper Coates, one of the wealthiest men in the black neighbourhood. During the party, his daughter discovers a dead woman in the garden shed and Annalee throws herself into solving the mystery while at the same time discovering more about her own past.

Helped by her pastor boyfriend and church friends, she follows the clues to a carnival, a black civic club and a prestigious white seminary – she even gets some advice from true-life historical figure George Washington Carver. Throughout the story, the author explores some of the harsh truths from that time: the sexual exploitation of vulnerable young women by powerful men, the bigotry within the Denver 1920s police department (infiltrated by the KKK) and even lynching.

Now an award-winning author, Patricia Raybon has a great writing style that drew me in as soon as I started reading her debut novel. If you like mysteries with a touch of romance and plenty of social comment, I’d thoroughly recommend this.

"Truth Be Told" by Patricia Raybon is an interesting story in this author's Annalee Spain mystery series set in 1924 Denver, Colorado. This one centers around a black woman who was found dead in a gardener's shed with a rare flower in her hand. Annalee is one of the first on the scene and since no one knows who the woman is, she is determined find out who she is and solve the murder. Along with her love interest, the local Pastor Jake and a young white orphan, they set out to find out who committed the crime.

The historical aspects of this story are interesting and I particularly liked the quirkiness the author brought into the story with George Washington Carver who is a real life historical figure. There is a sad history here in this one but the author does a good job of showing people building one another up. She brings faith in God into this one is a nice way.

It did take awhile for me to get into the story due to a slow start. I hadn't read anything by this author before and this one was interesting enough for me to look into reading the earlier books in the series. For a new reader to these books like me I was able to quickly figure out who was who in the book but missed out on some of the backstory. It might be worth reading these in sequence if you are a reader who likes to know the history of characters.

Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers for the chance to read an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

It is no secret that I love historical books and suspense stories, too. This is the perfect blend that satisfies my mystery loving heart.
In this well-crafted book, Annalee Spain is savvy and smart but humble and full of faith. This story set, in 1924 Denver, Colorado, is full of the cultural mix of black and white and the clashes and harmony that occurred.
I love the quotes by Shelock Holmes at the beginning of each chapter. I love that Annalee is a Professor of Theology and is well read in literature, too. And I love that she sees her calling as a detective in order to help the ones who have no voice. Annalee seeks the will of God and knows He has the answers. Hard things may come her way but she has loyal friends from all walks of life. She treats all people with respect. She has the support of a pretty nice pastor boyfriend, too!
This is a fantastic story that takes a look at what life was like in 1924 Denver. Hope there are more stories in this series.
* I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale via NetGalley. All opinions are mine alone.* .

Historical mystery set in 1920's Denver black community. Although book 3 in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone and still enjoyable. The author really takes one into the times and plops you down in the middle of black community, with racial & class tensions. While there is some romance, much of the storyline revolves around a black female amateur detective determined to solve the mystery of a dead black woman in the garden shed of a prominent black man. The white police "investigate" but seem more interested in stopping Annalee Spain from investigating. There's of too many questions and not enough answers. Throw in a bit of romance for Annalee to round out the story. It had me wondering from the get go.
I received an ARC copy from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Book Review: Truth be Told by Patricia Raybon ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this novel to read and review.

It’s June of 1924 and it’s Klan run Denver. Annalee Spain stumbles upon her third mystery while attending a high-class fundraiser at the home of a wealthy black man, when that man’s daughter finds a dead black woman.

This was an average mystery. It did not stand out to me. I enjoyed certain aspects of it. The fact that Annalee was a a young African American woman who was a theologian (in this time period) was intriguing. I enjoyed the hints of romance between Annalee and Pastor Jack.

I struggled with the lack of action in the story, at least concerning the mystery and the detective. It seemed rather disjointed. I wish the racial violence would have had a bigger play in the story. It seems a bit like it was tossed in. The faith also seems to be a minor part of the story.

I would recommend this book for people who enjoy reading about history that is often not deeply explored. I would not recommend this book to someone looking for action packed suspense.

Alas, this was not the book for me (or I was not the right reader for the book). DNFing as it's part of a series I've not yet read, along with a personal pet peeve.

As is my wont, I picked it up not knowing it was part of a series (and not book 1 in said series, lol). Sometimes this can be fine, so I gave it a go accordingly. Even within the first two chapters, events from previous books were mentioned--something to be aware of if you, too, would prefer to go in blind. ;)

I hiccupped a bit in the epigraph and in one of the first couple chapters when "your truth" (and its variants therein) were mentioned. That, paired with the title of the book, makes me feel like I'm starting off on the wrong foot already. But I won't soapbox here! I'll just set it aside and let others enjoy as desired.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"Denver's newest detective. A garden's deadly secrets.

On a lovely June night in 1924, amateur detective Annalee Spain is mingling bravely at a high-class political fundraiser in the lush backyard garden of famed political fixer Cooper Coates, one of the wealthiest men in Denver's Black neighborhood of Five Points. When Coates's young daughter discovers a pretty stranger dead in her father's garden shed, Annalee is thrust onto the baffling new case just as she's reeling from another recent discovery - a handwritten letter, found buried in her own garden, that reveals the identity of her mother.

Not ready to face the truth about her hidden past, Annalee throws herself into solving the mystery of the young woman's demise. With the help of her pastor boyfriend Jack Blake, her orphaned buddy Eddie, and her trustworthy church friends, Annalee follows the clues to three seemingly disconnected settings - a traveling carnival set up downtown, a Black civic club, and a prestigious white seminary on the outskirts of Denver. Intriguing advice also comes from a famous, real-life Denver visitor. But is Annalee on the right track or just running in circles, fleeing from conflicts racing in her heart?

In a taut, heart-gripping narrative driven by secrets, romance, and lies, Annalee must unravel a case with higher stakes than she imagined - one where answers about a lovely woman's death point to truths and tensions still throbbing today."

Personally I'd blame the seminarians.

I've enjoyed both of the first two books in this series and this was no exception. The story is set in Detroit during the 1920's. A brave young black female detective has a murder mystery to solve along with her pastor boyfriend while also dealing with the racism that existed at that time. She also deals with the mystery surrounding her mother. I hope there is another book in the series. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley but all opinions are my own.

This third in the 1920s Annalee Spain Mystery series is a gem! Perfect as a standalone, readers will race to read books one and two, so captured by the young Black amateur detective who risks all to uncover the truth behind the murder of a young woman, whose body is found in the garden shed of a wealthy politico in Denver.

The story broke my heart as it revealed the racist, classist history of the Mile High City, yet also gave me hope with its strong underpinnings of Christian faith. Patricia Raybon writes with such gorgeous prose and emotion that you simply can't put her books down until you turn the last page. Highly recommended!