The Color of Death (Sir John Fielding Mysteries) Book

Sir John Fielding, a blind 18th-century London judge, is back in his Bow Street offices along with his young assistant Jeremy in this seventh installment in Bruce Alexander's well-crafted, intricately plotted series. When a crime spree in a well-to-do neighborhood not far from Sir John's home turns from robbery to murder, and witnesses identify the perpetrators as black men, the focus shifts from police work to prejudice. When the criminals are ultimately revealed to be white men in blackface, Jeremy and Sir John must look deeper into the hearts and minds of their neighbors to discover the real motive for the attacks and cast off their own biases before solving the crime. Alexander draws an accurate picture of racial hypocrisy in an era when slavery, though banned in England, was permitted in its colonies. He gets all the period details right, and his two sleuths get more interesting with every new outing in this historical series. --Jane AdamsRead More