Out of the Blues

December 14, 2015
Boyce draws on her experience as a retired Atlanta police officer for her uneven debut, which features Sarah “Salt” Alt, an Atlanta native and newly promoted homicide detective. Her first case is the decade-old drug overdose of blues musician Mike Anderson, reopened thanks to a tip from a convicted felon imprisoned for attacking Salt. Her investigation quickly ruffles feathers in the department as she alienates a powerful local pastor, who employs off-duty cops as security guards. A sometimes-choppy narrative, chronological inconsistencies, and a heroine too good to be true—the beautiful Salt is respected by the gang in the housing project she used to patrol, haunted by her cop father’s suicide, adept at aikido, and dating a fellow detective, plus she manages to solve several high-profile homicides in the course of her first case—are balanced by Boyce’s clear passion for Atlanta’s people, culture, landscape, and history. Appreciation for the blues, along with magic realist elements related to the hellhound legend, add dimension to the plot. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates.

December 1, 2015
A veteran Atlanta cop's debut novel presents a newly minted homicide detective who's struggling to keep her sights trained on the cold case she's been assigned while Atlanta seethes around her. Last year, when Sarah "Salt" Alt was a beat cop, she was shot by a man she was arresting: Curtis Dwayne Stone, a fearsome gangster who worked out of The Homes, the housing project where Salt grew up. Now that she's out of danger and working with Atlanta Homicide, their relationship's about to change dramatically. Stone, looking to slice some years off his sentence, has offered evidence that blues singer and guitarist Michael Anderson didn't kill himself with an overdose years ago; he was given "a hot pop," a dose of pure heroin, by someone he trusted. Sgt. Charlie Huff puts Salt on the old case with no partner or backup, and it's clear that she's got her work cut out for her. Stone's not exactly forthcoming with new details when she visits him in prison, and Mike's parents, still mourning their son, recoil in horror from her questions. All Salt can do is follow the trail of dubious tips that leads her to Mike's girlfriend, Melissa Primrose, his friend and band mate Dan Pyne, and homeless singer Pretty Pearl White. Her slow progress is further impeded by hints that seem to link Mike's death to the Rev. Midas Prince's Big Calling Church and the execution-style shootings of highflying lawyer Arthur Solquist's wife and daughters--a white-hot case Salt's live-in lover, Detective Bernard Wills, is working and an emphatic no-fly zone for her. Less whodunit than odyssey, as Salt--clearly bent, as Wills observes, on fixing the world one sociopath at a time--navigates anti-woman prejudice in her unit, anti-cop sentiment in her hometown, and the steaming corruption that reaches from Atlanta's lower depths to its very top.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 15, 2015
Former homicide detective Boyce presents a gritty portrait of policing Atlanta's streets that captures the contrasts between the city's underworld, surging homeless population, and the affluent. Sarah Salt Alt has been promoted to the homicide division from a beat in the Homes, one of Atlanta's most notorious housing projects. But the glow of her first day in Homicide is dulled when she's assigned to work a cold case solo, and the case hinges on the testimony of Stone, a gangster from the Homes whom she recently put away for murder. Stone alleges that blues musician Mike Anderson was dealt a hot pop of pure heroin from a local dealer who wanted him dead. Salt immerses herself in the blues scene and becomes a target when she unravels a connection between the Homes and Atlanta's hottest megapreacher, Midas Prince. Salt's character combines quick intelligence and a refreshing, confident humanity that wins allies from all walks of life, and Boyce's fluid southern voice is an alluring contrast to the stark realities she skillfully evokes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2016

Sarah Alt, known to her colleagues as "Salt," is a rising star in the Atlanta Police Department. Recently promoted to homicide, she is assigned an old case involving the accidental overdose of a young blues musician. A new witness insists on foul play, claiming the incident a cleverly concealed murder. In a bizarre twist, Salt realizes this witness is none other than Curtis Dwayne Stone, a vicious and deranged street thug who tried to kill her less than a year ago. Revisiting her old haunts in the housing projects, Salt reconnects with many of her past associates from her days as a beat cop as she digs deeper into the allegation. She discovers a hornet's nest of cover-ups and graft that endanger her career and perhaps even her life. VERDICT This first novel by a retired police officer from Atlanta unfortunately fails to deliver an effective story. While there are some gripping passages, Salt never fully comes alive, and the intersecting and various story lines feel convoluted. Still, there will be strong regional demand. [See Prepub Alert, 8/17/15.]--Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015

Following more than 30 years with the Atlanta PD, Boyce leaps into writing with this story of brand-new homicide detective, Sarah "Salt" Alt, assigned a cold case about a blues musician whose death was initially ruled an accidental drug overdose. Not according to a bad guy Salt helped convict. What, he's trustworthy?

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.