January 6, 2025
Edgar winner Arceneaux’s charming sequel to Glory Be finds Louisiana bookie Glory Broussard reluctantly tracking down the killer of her ex-husband, Sterling. Glory—a self-described “Black woman who has done some living”—is sitting at her usual table in CC’s Coffee House when she’s approached by Valerie Broussard, the woman she blames for breaking up her marriage. Sterling has gone missing, according to Valerie, who begs for Glory’s help in finding him. Despite her misgivings, Glory pays a visit to Sterling’s rental property, where she finds him dead on the floor with a knife in his chest. Though she’s perfectly content to let the police handle the case, her adult daughter, Delphine, insists Glory investigate, so she heads off to gather clues at the local casino and a horse racing stable. Along the way, Glory juggles her detective work with her duties as organizer of the Red Hat Society’s highly competitive Mardi Gras festivities and her suspicion that Delphine is keeping secrets from her. Arceneaux continues to shrewdly subvert cozy mystery tropes, placing her spirited heroine in a world with real stakes and genuine adversity, and she throws a few clever curveballs into the central whodunit plot. This series deserves a long life. Agent: Alice Speilburg, Speilburg Literary.