You Should Have Died on Monday [Paperback]

Professor Lizabeth Stuart finds herself in this fourth novel of the series professionally successful and yet full of deep conflict. About to embark in a new position at the university in Gallagher, Virginia and deeply in love with, Quinn her boyfriend and Chief of Police of Piedmont State University, everything should be just about perfect. But, "Lizzie" has a health issue to deal with as well as her legacy and isn't able to move forward until she resolves issues in her past.

Lizzie never knew her mother having been raised by her grandparents. Now, as she approaches forty and is contemplating what it would be like to be a mother herself, she has a need to know why her own mother, whom she knows as Becca, abandoned her all those years ago. Her recently departed grandmother took secrets to the grave with her and if she can find her mother and talk to her she could learn a lot including the name of her biological father.

The search won't be easy because the trail vanishes after she was at the scene of a multiple shooting in 1969 in Chicago. Becca, a blues singer, involved herself with gangland figures as well as African American radicals and was there at the scene of the shootings. What she did or encouraged to happen is at question. People died and she vanished, no doubt to reinvent herself elsewhere, but the question is where did she go and can Lizzie find her if she is still alive today. Once found, will she tell all or will she take her secrets with her leaving Lizzie with still more questions than answers. Thanks to Quinn's contacts and the need by those still alive to meet the daughter of the beautiful and notorious Becca, before long Lizzie is on the ground in Chicago retracing her legacy every step of the way in a suspenseful trail that may ultimately uncover things she will wish she had never known.

The result is a rich read full of atmospheric details that engage the reader and pull one deep into the world of Lizzie Smart. The past as well as the present comes alive on every page making one feel like they are right there with her on her journey. A twisting, occasionally violent journey that constantly interjects history in small snippets into the tale as pieces of character development. In so doing, author Frankie Y. Bailey, currently a criminal justice professor at the University of Albany, shows a real story telling ability as she never slows down the pace of the novel. Back story and legacy are huge parts of the novel and both work well as do the other elements to provide an engaging moving tale sure to capture reader attention. A very good book that works well as an introduction to the series and will also work well for those already well aware of the good series and this clearly very talented author.

Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

In her fourth appearance in the series by Frankie Y. Bailey Kentucky criminal justice professor Lizzie Stuart investigates a case that hits dangerously close to home. In 1969, four years after abandoning her days-old infant, Becca Stuart disappeared after being implicated in both a drive-by shooting as well the murder of a Chicago gangster. Determined to discover why her mother callously rejected her as well as the identity of her father, Lizzie joins an investigator in Chicago and soon encounters the murdered man's son and even more casualties left by the beautiful and possibly deadly Becca. Reluctant to give up her search and confused by university police chief John Quinn's presentation of a ring, Lizzie follows her mother's trail to North Carolina and New Orleans, fearful of the truth yet unable to avoid it.

Frankie Y. Bailey has created a wonderfully real, witty, and very smart heroine who draws readers into her world and keeps them fascinated until the very end. In a deceptively fast read Bailey incorporates numerous relationships between parents and children and explores how the baggage and expectations of the former affect the latter. Through Lizzie Bailey as well reveals extensive knowledge of the history of the cities of Chicago and New Orleans, as well as shining a light on the turbulent atmosphere of the late sixties. Even though Lizzie is warned off her search for her mother and the possibility that the knowledge she seeks will only be hurtful, Lizzie's desire and obligation to know truth wins out and makes her more admirable than foolishly stubborn. One of the aspects I found most refreshing in this novel is that while race is acknowledged, in both the history of the sixties as well as her own interracial relationship, it never dominates the story and instead takes a backseat to the conflict between parents and their children. Although this latest in the series can be read as a standalone, the humor, engaging characters, and fascinating lore will have readers hunting down her previous appearances (including a short story in the collection Shades of Black). This is a series that should not be missed.

I'm a huge fan of Frankie Bailey's Lizzie Stuart books. This book, although not as fresh as the previous books, was nonetheless very good. Lizzie and her relationship with the police chief makes the book more romantic. I thought it was a little talkative (more talk than action) but that still didn't distract from the attractiveness of the novel. Overall, a very good read. Other books I would recommend with the same interracial romance angle are BACK TO HONOR: A REGGIE REYNOLDS MYSTERY by J.T. Watson; A Special Relationship by Yvonne Thomas; When We Get Married and Some Came Desperate, both by Katherine Cachitorie, and IF You Wanted the Moon by Mallory Monroe. All excellent novels with an interracial romance angle.

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