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INNER CITY BLUES by Paula L. Woods Ballantine Books, June 2002 316 pages $6.99 ISBN: 0449007251 Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Detective Charlotte Justice is a black, female police officer in the white male dominated Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD in the early 1990s. The Los Angeles riots are in full, ugly swing and it's all hands on deck as the police try to stop the rioting and looting. A curfew is in force and a number of Charlotte's white colleagues show a sickening racism when they spot a black curfew violator. Charlotte saves him from a certain beating, and discovers that he's doctor Lance Mitchell, supposedly delivering medicine to an elderly lady. But there's something not quite right about his story. And when the body of well known radical Cinque Lewis is found near where Mitchell was picked up, things get even stranger. And very personal for Charlotte. Lewis disappeared from sight after murdering Charlotte's husband and baby daughter nearly 14 years before.

Inner City Blues is a very powerful, passionate book; full of feeling and emotion and warmth. Paula Woods paints an intense picture of a city which is a mass of contradictions. The cast of characters is drawn with great skill and richness. They're not just creations for the pages of a book, but real people with real lives, loves, hopes and fears.

Charlotte herself is a very strong woman in a tough, man's world. But despite that strength, she's not hard - she's tender, feminine, and all woman. Her job is important to her, but her family and friends are too. She's driven, but not obsessive. I'd want her on my side in a case, but, more important than that, I'd want her as a friend.

Inner City Blues explores race, hate, love, passion, justice, revenge, retribution - big themes that suit this engaging protagonist with a big heart. Oh, and it's a cracking good read too.

Note: The hardcover edition is out of print.

Reviewed by Donna Moore, April 2003

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