The Queen City Detective Agency

Meridian, MS, was once known as the Queen City, but its implied royal status has tarnished over the years. Formerly controlled by the KKK, it is now under the thumb of the Dixie Mafia. Randall Hubbard is a real estate developer in Meridian. He builds strip malls that cater to the poor, mostly Black people of Meridian. The Dixie Mafia takes exception to this business strategy, and Hubbard winds up dead. Turnip Coogan, the man who is supposed to have killed Hubbard, is poisoned while in prison, so Coogan’s mother hires the Queen City Detective Agency to find out who killed her son. Clementine Baldwin, former cop, and her partner who run the agency find that the two murders are connected. Their investigation alarms the good old boys in town. As the agency uncovers the convoluted truth about the murders, the Dixie Mafia sends a hit man to end their meddling. Wright (American Pop) recalls the rampant bigotry in the South as Reagan begins his second term as president, with the author underlining the difficulties of escaping socially inbred prejudice and vigilante justice. Shayna Small narrates, capably capturing the language and accents of the South.