Decent People
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
The "propulsive" (L.A. Times), "intriguing" (Wall Street Journal) story of a black community reeling from a triple homicide, and the dark secrets the killings reveal.
In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina, in 1976, Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon-three enigmatic siblings-are found shot to death in their home. The people of West Mills-on both sides of the canal that serves as the town's color line-are in a frenzy of finger-pointing, gossip, and wonder. The crime is the first reported murder in the area in decades, but the white authorities don't seem to have any interest in solving the case.
Fortunately, one person is determined to do more than talk. Miss Josephine Wright has just moved back to West Mills from New York City to retire and marry a childhood sweetheart, Olympus "Lymp" Seymore. When she discovers that the murder victims are Lymp's half-siblings, and that Lymp is one of West Mills's leading suspects, she sets out to prove his innocence. But as Jo interviews those closest to the Harmons' deaths, she discovers more secrets than she'd ever imagined, and a host of cover-ups-ranging from medical misuse to illicit affairs-that could upend the reputations of many.
Propulsive and thought-provoking, Decent People is a brilliant novel about shame, race, money, homophobia, and the reckoning required to heal a fractured community.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Set in a largely segregated Southern town, this haunting historical mystery reveals evils that still feel real today. It’s 1976. After years up north, Jo Wright returns to her North Carolina hometown of West Mills to retire with her fiancé, Olympus. But when he becomes the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his three half-siblings—including the town’s Black pediatrician—Jo is forced to clear his name, digging through the entrenched prejudice that complicates this horrendous crime. De’Shawn Charles Winslow delivers an intricately plotted murder mystery while also painting a searing portrait of small-town Southern life where Jim Crow still holds sway. Shifting between the perspectives of different white and Black characters, Decent People is a nuanced story that packs a real emotional wallop.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Winslow (In West Mills) chronicles the aftermath of a triple homicide that rocks a segregated Southern community in his dynamic latest. Residents of mid-1970s West Mills, N.C., become embroiled in the shooting of Black siblings Marian, Marva, and Laz Harmon, after local authorities turn a blind eye. Spearheading the citizen-led investigation is Jo Wright, who moved back to her birthplace after decades in Harlem to retire and marry her childhood sweetheart, Olympus "Lymp" Seymour, the half-brother of the murder victims. Amid speculation of drug deals gone bad, medical malfeasance , and other motives, Jo digs into the case, bringing up painful secrets about the town's history. A bevy of characters offer their personal histories and perspectives on the town's racial woes, among them Savannah, Marian's best friend who chose to be with a Black man against her white family's wishes; and Eunice, who sent her queer teenage son La'Roy to Marian in the misguided hope of having "the gay removed." There are a trove of surprises along the way to the well-earned resolution, and Winslow entrances readers with strong characters, impeccable prose, and brisk pacing. As a character-driven mystery, it delivers the goods.
