The Bookshelf
(1803)

Tuesday, December 21, 2004 at 6:30 pm

Ian Smith
The Blackbird Papers
You’ve may have seen Dr. Ian Smith on NBC and The Today Show discussing medical issues, but his latest production is as author of The Blackboard Papers, a compelling thriller that has been receiving rave reviews. In the book, an African-American professor at Dartmouth is murdered near his rural home. Meanwhile, his FBI agent brother tries to solve the murder after receiving messages about research his bother was doing on blackbirds. Dr. Smith gives a dose of how he came up with the book, life as an author and what life has been like growing up with a twin brother.

Valerie Wilson Wesley
Dying In The Dark
In Dying in the Dark, Private Investigator Tamara Hayle, is back again. Author and Newark-native Valerie Wilson Welsey discusses the latest crime that her recurring character must solve. It’s no mystery that readers can’t get enough of Wesley’s series and Wilson Wesley explains why she believes readers always want more of Tamara Gayle. Wilson Wesley also shares the struggles that many African-American mystery writers must go through in order to get respect in the world of book publishing and why she continues to use Newark, NJ as the backdrop of her best selling series.

Walter Mosley
Little Scarlett
New York Times best selling author Walter Mosley discusses race and politics in the 21st century with an audience at New Jersey City University. He discusses why he uses his books as a vehicle discuss race and gives insight into his latest Easy Rawlins mystery Little Scarlett . In the book, a murder takes place after the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles, where Mosely grew up. Private investigator Easy Rawlins emerges to solve the crime.