I was intrigued by this book solely on the Southern Gothic/Grit Lit moniker thrown its way and I will say that it had its moments where this was the way of things. Clem was a great protagonist and her "sidekick" Dixon was pretty well constructed as well. I was a little put off by the depth of the mystery mostly because a lot of it didn't really make a whole lot of sense. I understand a mystery author hiding the mastermind until the end. I like red herrings and I like being surprised by the reveal, but I also appreciate a little bit of a hint at who it could be. There were so many characters and so many things happening in the story that it was hard to follow who did what, why, and what would happen. By the end, it was all settled and it was done well, but I was in the dark for the most part. Now, this doesn't ruin the read for me, not should it for you, but it was a bit of a downer and a slog to get to that reveal. Once it was revealed it made sense, sort of, and then out... the newspaper headings were a nice treat.

From the blurb:
Following an unforgettable cast of characters and a jaded female P.I. enmeshed in a criminal conspiracy in 1980s Mississippi, The Queen City Detective Agency is a riveting, razor-sharp Southern noir that unravels the greed, corruption, and racism at the heart of the American Dream.

My thoughts:
Mississippi in the 1980s was, interesting, to say the least. And for private investigator Clementine Baldwin, excuse me, Ms. Baldwin, that's what makes it interesting. Clem and her partner take on a new case, which is full of back country racism, murder and intrigue. And just as I thought I figured out what was happening, it twisted and turned. I was truly surprised at the end and would absolutely read another Queen City adventure, and anything else by Snowden Wright.

I received a free copy of, The Queen City Detective Agency, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Queen City is the nickname of Meridian Mississippi. Pi Clementine Baldwin is hired to find a killer, can she find the killer? Are they part of the Dixie Mafia? This was a good read, kept me guessing until the end.

Former cop, now struggling private investigator Clementine Baldwin is hired to investigate the death of 'Turnip' Coogan. Turnip was charged with the murder of a real estate developer. While declaring his innocence on a rooftop, Turnip falls leading his mother to hire Clem.

Snowden Wright creates a rich and compelling page turner set in 1985 Meridian Mississipi, just before Ronald Reagan's second inauguration (why does he need a second one, a character opines). Tensions simmer between rich and poor, white and black, with the good ol' boy network at the top of the food chain. Clem learns about the DM (dixie mafia) who are allegedly involved with the murders.

Clem is a compelling character. She's biracial, with a white father in jail, and never quite fits in with either side. She's smart and tenacious, but also guarded and jaded. Yet she has hidden optimism, wanting things to be better which drives her to solving the case. I really liked her partnership with Dixon Hicks, who is just a big golden retriever who tries to coax Clem into opening up. Many times she finds herself wrong-footed many times throughout the investigation.

While I had a feeling about the final reveal, it was still a bit shocking to have suspicions confirmed. I really enjoyed this book and hope there's more Clem and Dixon adventures. With its fresh and engaging prose which had me immersed in the story, characters and Meridian (I kept searching photos online), this was retro southern noir at its best.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright.

This book had setting, atmosphere, and attitude galore. I really enjoyed the characters and felt mired in the world of 80s Mississippi. A lot of fun.

It’s the 1980s in Meridian, Mississippi. Clem, an African-American P.I. with the help of her white partner Dixon, is hired to solve a supposed murder. Emphasis on supposed, considering there’s multiple witnesses who saw him willingly make his way onto the rooftop he dropped from. Finding a murderer is not going to be an easy gig.

Some of the things I enjoyed throughout the book were how the main characters, Clem and Dixon are both so likable. Clem with her strong confident personality and Dixon, the goofy sidekick. I appreciated the break in gender norms when it came to Clem’s profession and the fact that the main characters were not romantically involved. I thought that part of the story was done well. I also liked reading about Clem's struggles being a female P.I. of color and how she manages to overcome them on her day to day. Readers who might enjoy this book, I’d say, are those who prefer young adult, light hearted mysteries and criminal investigations. I would not recommend this to someone seeking a deeply suspenseful or provoking read.

Unfortunately, even though there was some aspect of the story I appreciated, in the end, I did not find the book to be very memorable. I had a hard time with the grammar and vocabulary throughout the entire book. I often caught myself having to focus extra hard, sentence after sentence, to make sure I was understanding the paragraphs. This made it really tough to catch any momentum and it slowed me down to the point of wanting to put the book down.

One of the problems might be the amount of unnecessary descriptive information. The author did a great job setting the scene but I found the amount of scene setting to be a little much at times. It put the book in the ‘slow paced’ category for me early on. I also feel the need to mention the endless lists. Whether it was a list of items being described or a list of different ways to say the same thing, there were a lot of lists. Also, around chapter 6 is where I first noticed the parenthetical expressions and once I noticed that, along with the lists, I couldn't un-notice them anymore. They became extremely distracting. Around chapter 10 is where I started becoming frustrated with the story's slow pace and by chapter 14, I was officially bored. :(

All in all, the story had promise but the slow pace and writing style just ended up not being for me. Had it been a little easier to follow and find a good flow, I think I would have enjoyed the story a lot more.

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really liked the characters and the setting for this book. It had a real atmosphere that a lot of mystery novels end up lacking. Though the plot did end up being a little predictable, I still enjoyed the ride.

This is a complicated murder story. Clem’s, a retired police officer and her partner Dixon are hired to find the murderer of a woman’s son. Takes place in MIssissippi with Clem a Black and Dixon a white. Much of their conversations center on this relationship. When the case seems solved Clem decides to take on the missing pieces centered around Queen City. Fraud, corrupt public officials may sound more current than the date of the book.
Mystery covers many individuals, much distance and will keep the reader guessing. Good read

A fun novel featuring the Private investigator Clementine Baldwin in the 1980's Clem is hired to find the killer of Lewis the Turnip Coogan. Turnip may or may not have murdered by hire the real estate developer that is opening strip malls across Meridian, Mississippi,
Clem is caustic, jaded and pessimistic but game to take on the case. She quickly finds herself in dangerous waters.

Clem is a strong character and I love that the setting lent to discussion about race and economic issues. This is a noir book, so expect the grit!
If you love noir, strong characters and witty and interesting characters this is the book for you!
#williammorrow #thequeencitydetectiveagency #snowdenwright

i really enjoyed this! strong plot, characters that were likeable and multifaceted, and a case that kept me glued to the book. super easy tone and style to read, and overall enjoyable.

i was given an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

The Queen City Detective Agency was an enjoyable book. The story takes place in the mid-1980s with a female ex-cop turned private investigator who is a person of color living in Mississippi. Most of the story is about the detective and her business partner solving a murder and finding a conspiracy behind it. Yet, some of it goes into the struggles, the main character has to deal with to be successful at her job and life while living in the south. She is a smart, strong lead for the book. The plot itself was fast-paced and fun. Overall a good read.

The story and dialogue are good, the details are interesting, though sometimes the descriptions can be a bit too wordy and bog down the flow. I like the main character, Clementine kept me reading to see how her black woman owned detective agency would fare. The Meridian, Mississippi setting and people are well drawn. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity read this advanced reader copy.

One of the best detective books I have read in a long time! Funny at times but serious when needed, well written, perfectly developed characters.

In the deep south, in the 1980s, a black female detective and her white male employee are paid to investigate the death of an inmate who appeared to have taken his own life. His momma is sure it was murder. Then more people end up dead and the Queen City detective agency believes that the DM (Dixie Mafia) is behind them all.

I appreciated the author’s ability to put me into Meridian Mississippi at that time. A small, relatively poor city with a deep sense of community. The racism, the treatment of women and the GOB (good ol boy) network were plainly laid out as being part of the town, while being tempered by the protagonist’s viewpoint as an educated black woman living and working there. I was rooting for her from the start, and knew she would solve the case while not taking any bull from the men (and women) she had to deal with.

I loved the setting of this book—1980’s Mississippi— both because I was a child in the 80’s and because I particularly enjoy books where the setting is novel or distinct and adds to the story and atmosphere. I am also a sucker for books with strong female protagonists and Clementine does not disappoint. Her character and background is nuanced and complex. I liked her partnership with Dixon and the vehicle that provided for commentary on race, misogyny, and social economic status in the U.S. and the south in particular. Their banter and interactions were amusing and endearing. The other characters in the book are also entertaining and their circumstances were portrayed realistically.

Mystery novels typically follow one of several tropes, and this one is no exception, but it’s fresh and entertaining.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. I appreciate the introduction to this author.

On New Year’s Day 1985, as the countdown to Ronald Reagan’s second presidential inauguration begins, Turnip Coogan, in custody for the murder of real estate developer Randall Hubbard, falls from the roof of the courthouse in downtown Meridian, Mississippi. It may be morning in the rest of America, but that Reaganite optimism has bypassed the state’s “Queen City,” where strip malls developed by the late Hubbard have “sucked the life out of the city’s downtown” and its convenient location between New Orleans and Atlanta has made Meridian “a vital pit stop in the loosely affiliated crime belt of the Deep South.” Knowing of her son’s connection to the notorious Dixie Mafia, Lenora Coogan is convinced that his death was neither an accident nor a suicide and hires Black cop-turned-private investigator Clementine Baldwin and her white partner, Dixon Hicks, to find the “sons of bitches who killed him.” Complicating the investigation is the still-jailed Odette Hubbard, who had recruited Turnip to kill her husband and then canceled the hit job. She wants Clem and Dixon to identify the real killer, a request that puts a target on Clem’s back. Jim Crow laws may be a thing of the past, but Clem still must battle old-fashioned racism as she goes after the city’s powerbrokers. Wright’s (American Pop) Southern noir introduces a compelling, complex, bourbon-loving sleuth who both loathes and loves her hometown. Her budding friendship with Dixon will have readers anticipating their next crime-solving adventure.

I am sorry but I couldn’t not finish this book. I read like a stage play rather than a novel, like it had been adapted.

The dialogue had me wondering if a white man had tried to write black voices because of how it came off like someone’s reading of how they think they’d act rather than writing them truthfully.

I won’t publish my review elsewhere but wanted the publishers to know how sincerely off putting this felt to me. I can’t review the plot because I didn’t make it far enough. The writing style was visual and helped me piece together the action but in the end the dialogue had me shaking my head.

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.

I really enjoed this book and actually look forward to a possible series???? The setting is painted perfectly and Clem is a wonderful character.

Sometimes it can be hard for a book to capture my attention when it’s set decades ago, however this was not the case for this book! It was an enjoyable read, there were times it seems kind of slow paced but then it’s pick up.
I would recommend it.

I read an interview with the author in which he said he'd done his homework, reading in the genre, before writing this book, and he read more Elmore Leonard than anyone else. I thought there was a bit of an Elmore Leonard flavor to it, with an emphasis on oddball characters doing often rather stupid things. (He also mentioned Joe Ide, and I think there's a similar willingness to go right over the top.)

In 1980, a black woman PI and her white male sidekick are hired to find out whether the man in the opening scene, who fell off the roof of a Meridian, Mississippi jail was murdered. Come to find out, he was, but it's all pretty complicated and there's some double-crossing going on with their client and the dead man's associates and then there's the Dixie Mafia. None of it's especially realistic, but it's entertaining and occasionally thought-provoking.

I was fairly confused by the plot and relationships much of the time, but on the whole I enjoyed it. The author, who is not Black or a woman, but is from Mississippi had me me fooled.