It'll Rope You In

In the early 1900s in New Jersey, a little girl was found murdered. This is the story of the search for her killer, interwoven with the beginning of the detective era and the birth of the NAACP. The three topics to me didn't sound like this would be a real page-turner, but I was wrong. On the day of her disappearance, there happened to be an itinerant Black man about and he ends up arrested for her murder. Some are happy to say the Black guy did it and wipe their hands of the whole situation, but others are not, and seek justice for everyone. Ray Schindler dazzles with his criminal investigative techniques, and the inch by inch progress toward the sting the police hope to pull off keeps you on the edge of your seat. You'll learn about Ida B. Wells, the bad-assiest of civil rights bad-asses; seriously, there was nothing that woman couldn't do. But at the heart of the story is a little girl who didn't get to have a life, and a grieving family. In his hands, the author deftly keeps you riveted and yet pulls back when there's a potential for a little too much heat. From now on, I'll read Alex Tresniowski's grocery list if I can get my hands on it.