After scooping several major awards stateside for her grin-inducing spin on cosy private eye novels with Hollywood Homicide (and its sequel Hollywood Ending), New Jersey screenwriter turned-novelist Kellye Garrett brings a fresh take to psychological thrillers while taking readers into some darker places with her terrific and tense third novel.
Like a Sister is a superb, twisty domestic noir where the death of Black reality TV star, Desiree Pierce, sparks online gossip but is shrugged off as a drug overdose, and a tragedy rather than a crime, by everyone except graduate student Lena Scott. Desiree and Lena shared a father, wealthy and influential hip hop mogul Mel, but little else. Nevertheless, Lena’s determined to find justice, wherever that leads. Why was her estranged sibling found dead in a playground in the Bronx – a part of the city she’d never venture into – after partying it up in Manhattan for her 25th birthday?
Garrett delves into the nature of celebrity and social media constructs, as well as ideas of ‘the strong Black woman’, in a tense and twisting tale. Like a Sister is also nicely laced with sarcastic humour and attitude, giving it a fresh feel and urban perspective among an ocean of suburban domestic noir. A compelling page-turner from a fine storyteller.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kellye Garrett’s first novel, Hollywood Homicide, was released by Midnight Ink in August 2017 and was named one of BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. It won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Independent Publisher ‘IPPY’ awards for best first novel. It was also nominated for the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and Barry award for Best Paperback Original.
It was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original and a Lefty Award for Best Humorous Novel. In addition to writing, she currently serves on the national Board of Directors of Sisters in Crime and is a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color alongside Walter Mosley and Gigi Pandian.
Kellye previously spent 8 years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the CBS drama Cold Case. People were always surprised to learn what she did for a living. – probably because she seemed way too happy to be brainstorming ways to murder people. A former magazine editor, Kellye holds a BS in magazine writing from Florida A&M and an MFA in screenwriting from USC’s famed film school. Having moved back to her native New Jersey, she spends her mornings commuting to Manhattan for her job at a leading media company – while still happily brainstorming ways to commit murder.
Like A Sister is a Megan Miranda-esque #ownvoices suspense novel in which no one bats an eye when a disgraced reality TV star is found dead in the Bronx – except her estranged half-sister, whose refusal to believe the official story leads her on an increasingly dangerous search for the truth.
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