THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130022
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY YOLANDA ROBINSON COLES
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
WHEN VALERIE Wilson Wesley, editor-at-large at Essence magazine, burst on the mystery scene with ``When Death Comes Stealing,'' critics praised it as an excellent ``debut'' novel.
The true test of fiction is whether a writer can repeat a performance exhibiting the same or a greater level of skill.
Not only does Wesley repeat in ``Devil's Gonna Get Him'' (Putnam, 212 pp., $19.95), but she establishes also her character, Tamara Hayle, as a major player in the world of crime detectives.
``Devil's Gonna Get Him'' finds Hayle taking on a somewhat minor assignment from one of Newark, N.J.'s black elite, Lincoln Storey. It's a relatively simple job: tail his stepdaughter's lover, Brandon Pike, to see what he's really after. In Storey's own assessment, Pike can only be after his money because his stepdaughter, Alexa, has nothing else to offer. Hayle assumes Storey's arrogance results from the fact that he was one of Wall Street's first black investment bankers. But she's also in a bit of a bind: The man he wants her to investigate was once her lover.
Although it borders on unethical, Hayle takes the case. Paying clients are hard to find. On the very day that Storey hires her, however, he falls over dead at a fund-raiser for Stella Pharr, deputy district attorney, before Hayle's very eyes. The whirlwind thus begins, and it's up to Tamara to gather all the pieces together before they're scattered to the four winds.
Lincoln Storey has made more enemies than friends and most of his enemies are better off with him dead. Many could have mixed the peanut butter, a deadly allergen for Storey, in the bean dip. Looking at the list, there's Jackson Tate, whom Storey blackmailed into allowing him to become a silent partner in his successful restaurant; the grieving widow, Daphne, who lost her first husband to suicide; and Alexa, who literally hated Storey's guts.
And what about his mistress, Tasha, whom he kept in grand style until a few days before his death? Of course, there's also Brandon Pike. How does he really fit into this web of deceit and murder? And isn't it amazing that Storey was murdered right in front of the deputy district attorney?
From the first meeting with Lincoln Storey to the novel's climax there are so many twists and turns that you can't help but wonder what is really going on here? The characters are likable but highly suspicious. Hayle's down-to-earth attitude draws you into the dilemma every step of the way. You want to talk to her, tell her your angles on the events.
``Devil's Gonna Get Him'' proves that Wesley can handle the detective genre with ease. She's more than a flash in the mystery pan. MEMO: Yolanda Robinson Coles is a free-lance children's book critic in Norfolk
and Durham, N.C. by CNB