Saturday, March 7, 2020

Barbara Neely: R.I.P.

Well, this is very sad news, indeed. Mystery author Barbara Neely passed away earlier this week.  i only met her a few times, but she was always positive and fun. I loved her books. Barbara was a Brash Books author, and Publisher Lee Goldberg, posted this on his Facebook page.

She was recently named the 2020 Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America and is best known as author of the Blanche White mystery series, which we are honored to publish. The following obituary was supplied by her family:

"Early in her life Barbara demonstrated a vivid imagination, by making up stories from her daily experiences, developing into a young griot. Barbara was observant, a good listener and she knew how to ask probing questions. Sometimes her information gathering would result in her developing a storyline for one of her many short stories. She used these talents not only as a writer, but when she produced and hosted several radio programs.

In addition to her writing, Barbara was also a Social Justice Warrior who dedicated her time and talents to causes such as Economic and Criminal Justice, Women’s Rights and Equality. Her Socially Conscious work was acknowledged by receiving several awards.

She incorporated her dedication to social change with her love of writing. The fruit of that labor was a wonderful series of four mystery books featuring Blanche White, an African American women employed as a domestic. Blanche is a proud independent woman, with a curious mind and keen observational skills. Not only does she solve crimes she also shines a light on many social, cultural and economic issues. The Blanche series was so well received it has been translated into several languages including French, Czech, German and Japanese. Barbara has also won several distinguished awards for her writing.

Barbara died after a brief illness. She leaves a loving family and millions of adoring fans to celebrate a life well lived."

Indeed!

9 comments:

marcia said...

my local library has none of her books...nor does AMazon list any

Keith Raffel said...

Took a course on world crime fiction at Harvard last fall and a Blanche mystery was on the syllabus. What a fun and provocative read! Such a shame. At least, though, she died knowing she'd been named a grand master.

Janet Rudolph said...

Marcia, I saw several on Amazon.

laura barr said...

https://www.amazon.com/Barbara-Neely/e/B000AP7NVY?ref=dbs_t_r_fta_b000ap7nvy

Lynne Foster Shifriss said...

Just saw the first Blanche White book on Amazon, available in several formats.

Anonymous said...

The entire Blanche series is on Amazon: Audible, Kindle, paper and hardback.

Clea Simon said...

I'm so sorry to read this. I adored her books and kept hoping there would be more. She was an important writer,

Dera Williams said...

I loved her Blanche White series. May she rest in peace.

Unknown said...

Of course we have her wonderful book and when Angela and I lived in Boston, I believe we met her. I could be wrong. It is just that her book felt like we knew her and came along when we were so happy to be reading fiction by black women. 1980s. I am glad she had a brief illness... what a beautiful spirit.
Jennifer Abod