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    Blanche on the Lam
    Blanche on the Lam
    Blanche on the Lam
    Audiobook7 hours

    Blanche on the Lam

    Written by Barbara Neely

    Narrated by Lisa Renee Pitts

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there's a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she's forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin. Along the way, she lays bare the quirks of southern society with humor, irony, and a biting commentary that makes her one of the most memorable and original characters ever to appear in mystery fiction.

    Editor's Note

    In memoriam…

    Blanche White became the first black female detective to find her way into the mainstream, and she shined a light on race, class, and other social justice issues through fun mysteries. White’s creator, Barbara Neely, an activist and a pioneer in crime fiction, died March 2, 2020.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 20, 2017
    ISBN9781541474703
    Blanche on the Lam

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    Reviews for Blanche on the Lam

    4/5

    177 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Beautifully written with a sharp astute social commentary. In a category of its own.
    • 4/5
      This is an introductory cozy mystery which is more of a commentary on race relations. Blanche is a big-boned woman who works as a domestic and is proud of her work if not her employers. She is feisty and unapologetic in her outlook. And because of this one has to look at this overlooked and often mistreated worker differently. The mystery isn’t groundbreaking but fits nicely into the tale.
    • 5/5
      Nuanced story with an unusual narrator, Blanche White. The difficulties she faced in surviving and prevailing despite the enemies arrayed against her provides an entertaining and educational story
    • 5/5
      It is wonderful to find a cozy with a feisty black main character. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful written in great detail. Well developed characters that you both loved and hated. A very unique thriller. The actress whom read has a great voice and gave all the characters life.
    • 3/5
      Tbh Blanche’s persona was really what kept me going. The book had the structure of mystery novel accompanied by the heaviness of literary fiction because of all the political and social commentary. This means that it dragged for almost the entire length of the book.

      It was an okay read
    • 4/5
      Blanche White is a special kind of sassy woman; not your average maid. When we first meet her in Farleigh, North Carolina, she is waiting to go to jail; convicted of writing bad checks. This is her second offense so she knows the judge is going to throw the book at her: thirty days in jail if only to set an example. When she unexpectedly finds an opportunity to slip away from the bailiff, she takes it quiet as you please. Just slips out the back door of the courthouse. Through a series of misunderstandings Blanche ends up working as "the help" for an upper class white family: Everette, Grace, Mumsfield, and Aunt Emmeline. Luckily, Blanche has her wicked humor and uncanny intuition because from the moment she starts working for the family, she can tell something is wrong with all of them except mentally challenged Mumsfield. It wasn't just from eavesdropping on Everett's conversation with the sheriff, despite the sheriff’s death the very next day. It wasn’t from observing the odd behavior of alcoholic and seemingly senile Aunt Emmeline, who never leaves her room. It wasn’t from the gardener who perishes in an “accidental” house fire. It was from watching and talking with Mumsfield. From the moment they met Blanche had a special connection to the boy; he was always on her radar whether she liked it or not.Blanche on the Lam, while humorous also carries the stark reality of sexism, racism and prejudice. Neely deftly weaves these sobering themes through an otherwise funny plot.
    • 5/5
      When four of her employers go out of town without paying her or informing her, sassy domestic worker, Blanche White, is forced to write a few bad checks that land her in hot water. She might be headed off to prison. Fortunately, a commotion surrounding an unfortunate event involving the county commissioner enables Blanche to make her escape from the courthouse without notice. What will she do? Where will she go? She finds herself in the home of a wealthy family, disguised as a former worker. Blanche figures she can make some money in the meantime before she’s found out and then move on with her life. But she’s chosen the wrong house to get lost in. Things are not what they appear to be in the household. So when two murders happen within her short stay at this hideout home, Blanche will need her quick wits to get away safe, and to uncover who did away with her newfound friend. This book immediately drew me in. It was creative right from the start, which hooked me. And then Blanche’s personality, which mimicked some women I’ve encountered in real life and in the movies, entertained me. How can I explain her character? It was a little like a mix of Octavia Spencer’s character, Minnie, from The Help, and Madea from one of Tyler Perry’s movies. ? One of my favorite characters was Mumsfield, a mentally challenged man with a big heart, a love of cars, and an instant attachment to and wholesome affection for Blanche. Mumsfield, although autistic, was very keen in many ways, and there was just so much to love about him. I would not characterize this book as a cozy mystery because it contains some mature themes and serious subject matter; material that’s best suited for adult readers. It was not the comedic mystery that I thought it would be based on the cover. The setting was the Deep South, and if you are particularly sensitive about outspokenness regarding racial inequalities and prejudice, I’d think twice before picking up this one. Blanche can be a bit saucy with her tongue, and other characters are not shy about expressing their feelings about minorities. Nonetheless, the mystery aspect was top-notch, and I was both impressed and surprised by the outcome. The audible narrator’s performance given by Lisa Reneé Pitts was outstanding!! She imitates male and female voices, dialects and accents with ease. As the villain, her maniacal laugh was priceless. I look forward to listening to other books she’s narrated. Thank you, Tantor Audio, for a complimentary audio download of Blanche on the Lam. All opinions expressed about it are my own.
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed the character of Blanche and her no nonsense approach to things.
    • 4/5
      Blanche White makes a run from Court for unpaid bills and needs a place to hide until the furor dies down. A temporary assignment cleaning and cooking for a family heading to their country place seems a perfect option -- until the bodies start to pile up! Blanche is practical, mystical and proud -- qualities necessary for her protection and survival. An interesting look at how race and class can make some in society invisible.
    • 4/5
      I received a free kindle copy of Blanche on the Lam (Blanche White #1) by Barbara Neely, published by Brash Books from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.I gave this interesting mystery four stars. It is the first of Barbara Neely's books I've read but won't be the last. It was an intriguing look at interactions between 'domestic help' & their employers. It gives interesting insight into black/white relationships in the United States."She'd ignored both events despite her claim that reading people & signs, sizing up situations, were as much a part of her work as scrubbing floors & making beds."A description of meeting her most recent employer: "Triumph struggled with peevishness for control of the woman's voice."The characters were well written & Blanche is a dynamic individual with strong likes & dislikes as well as an intuitive gift.
    • 4/5
      Not the most well-written mystery -- the story goes overboard with the depiction of the main villain, and especially with the number of murders, both past and present, that person is responsible for. But the character of Blanche White is done very well and is the book's saving grace.
    • 4/5
      Not the most well-written mystery -- the story goes overboard with the depiction of the main villain, and especially with the number of murders, both past and present, that person is responsible for. But the character of Blanche White is done very well and is the book's saving grace.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading this book because Blanche is a well-developed character, trying to keep herself out of jail, make sure her kids are all right, deal with (still yet another set of) rich white employers, and solve a murder. As a murder mystery, I don't think the book works all that well, though. But it's a quick read, and would probably provoke all sorts of interesting discussions if it was sold packaged with The Help.
    • 3/5
      Barbara Neely’s Blanche on the Lam, published by Penguin in 1992, is unusual partly because of its detective, a plump, 40-year-old, gap-toothed black woman. Her name is Blanche White, and she’s very aware of her name’s double irony. She cleans houses and cooks for white folks, sometimes as a temp. She goes on the lam, walking out of the courthouse bathroom and a thirty-day sentence for writing a bad check. In order to get out of town and away from the cops, she takes a temp job in the country house of Everett and Grace--I'm not sure we ever learn their last name-- and their Down-syndrome cousin Mumsfield, who befriends Blanche. The setting is rural North Carolina, and the mystery concerns a struggle for control of an aging, supposedly drunken aunt of Mumsfield. Rich Aunt Emmeline is the target of plots to get her money, and the plots involve an impostor, a handyman who is later murdered, and an unwilling Blanche. At first Blanche does not understand why Mumsfield's descriptions of his wonderful aunt don't tally with her knowledge of the mean drunk upstairs. Eventually she works it out, but not before a number of adventures, including Blanche’s use of a two-by-four to coldcock Grace, who's chasing her with a knife.Of less interest than the plot is what Barbara Neely does with her detective: a live-in maid who cleans house is in a unique position to know everything that goes on in a household. If she’s observant and smart, like Blanche, she can have all the family’s secrets figured out in a matter of days. “Reading people and signs, and sizing up situations,” the author writes of her main character, “were as much a part of her work as scrubbing floors and making beds.” Even more advantages attach to this character when she’s in the house of a rich, bigoted southern family: as a poor black woman, Blanche is nearly invisible to Everett and Grace unless they want something to eat, something to drink, or something to be vacuumed.The charm of Blanche is her complete vulnerable ordinariness. She works hard for a living, taking care of her dead sister’s two children, with some help from her own mother. Blanche was teased as a child until her cousin convinced her that she was a Night Girl who could become invisible just by slipping out into the dark. Blanch used this in her youth, eavesdropping, discovering things and making her mother think she had second sight. Her detective skills are a by-product of her survival skills.Blanche on the Lam is the first of a series of four books Barbara Neely has written about her detective Blanche White.