A Darker Shade of Crimson: An Ivy League Mystery

In this gripping mystery, Pamela Thomas Graham introduced the world to a new sister sleuth. Graham's characterizations are phenomenal, the writing is flawless, and the storyline is enthralling. I'd encourage anyone looking for a chilling mystery with a thick plot, set in an innovative location to check out A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON.Reviewed by CandaceKof The RAWSISTAZ ReviewersComplete review can be found on our website...

A severely lengthy novel, A DARKER SHADE OF CRIMSON deals with Nikki Chase, former Wall Street raider, now Harvard professor, who stumbles on the dead body of Rozella Fisher while finding her way down the emergency stairwell during a blackout in one of the halls. Nikki does some background history on her friend and finds out that she never had a degree, but she had a position in the finance department of the university. She had a connection with several major players on the campus that she kept to herself, and a disk that held several discrepencies between what was and wasn't counted with the school's budget. These contradictions and how they surrounded Rozella is what propels this mystery along. It's not enough that Nikki's former boyfriend, Dante, moves back into her life, but the fact that he is living in the same building makes it too close for comfort, adding the sexual tension. Again, the book is a long one, and the spaces between the mystery and the ex's can be a little too much at times, but it introduced a new mystery sleuth in a new atmosphere loaded with numerous cracks in the armor, hopefully bringing forth numerous stories.

This was one of the best written mysteries I've read in a long time. It kept me guessing and very interested from the beginning to the end. I couldn't put it down. It is obvious that she used her experiences as a student at Harvard as the basis for much of her information. Additionally, the protagonist's background was very similar to her personal educational background. There were no stereotypes and it was very realistic. For a first novel/mystery, it was excellent.

During a blackout, Harvard University Professor of Economics, Veronica "Nikki" Chase, trips over the corpse of Rosezella Maynette Fisher, the dean of students. Since both are black females in a white male world, Nikki feels a certain affinity with her dead sister and cannot help but investigate the murder. Nikki soon finds a collection of viable suspects who had the motive for silencing the opinionated Ella. Could the killer be the president of the school, Leonard "Leo" Barrett, who promoted the loyal Ella to her last position. Or could it have been her former spouse, a radical who was allegedly going to reveal something about Ella. Nikki insists on continuing with her inquiries even though the police and the university administration want her to stay out of the way, and a cold blooded killer plans to silence her if she gets too close. A DARKER SIDE OF CRIMSON is a very interesting look at Harvard from the perspective of the black minority. Nikki is a great character who struggles between being true to her roots and acting like a "white" professor is supposed to behave. Though the first person dialogue using accents can be distracting and the secondary players are one-dimensional, this novel confirms that Pamela Thomas-Graham is a very talented writer. Fans of amateur academia sleuths and minority who-done-its will want more appearances by Nikki, especially inside the Ivy League. Harriet Klausner