Alibi

This is one instance when the narrator's performance far surpasses the story itself. Three dope dealers are killed in a move to rob a stash house. The killer escapes but needs an alibi for his whereabouts during the shootings. Enter Daisy, a 22-year-old stripper, who provides the killer with said alibi--for two thousand dollars. Allegedly, they were in a bar together all night. But Daisy runs when she realizes what she's covering up and is pursued by the killer, the law, and another interested party. Most of the characters in this depiction of 1986 Philadelphia are African-American, and Paula Parker-Martin's supreme efforts run the gamut--from the hard-nosed dope dealer to the streetwise but weary Daisy to a grandmother figure who rings true to life. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

June 22, 2009
Set in Philadelphia in 1986, this blistering first in a new urban noir series from bestseller Woods (True to the Game
) introduces 22-year-old Daisy Fothergill, a naïve African-American stripper. Daisy accepts $2,000 from an organized crime rep to provide an alibi for Bernard “Nard” Guess after he shoots two thieves to death as well as a buddy by accident in a North Philly drug house. An innocent witness to the bloodbath identifies Nard to the police, but pays a fatal price. When Daisy arrives home to tell her mother, Abigail, of her windfall and finds Abigail dead of natural causes, she discovers the $2,000 barely covers funeral costs. Her life takes an even nastier turn once Daisy starts dating Reggie Carter, a fast-talker who soon deserts her. Later, a pregnant Daisy flees to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to seek refuge with her aunt, but eventually she must return to Philly for a day of reckoning. This wickedly satisfying page-turner will leave readers eager for the next installment.