About the Book:
Fifteen-year-old Blue Collins’s parents own the only Black beach in Santa Monica in 1929. She loves spending time there with her handsome friend Ben Clark. It’s a quiet spot where they can be alone and where Ben’s darker skin won’t be judged by onlookers—or Blue’s own family.
During a sunset rendezvous after a summer parade, the pair discovers the body of Dottie Whitehouse, a white debutante. Blue Beach is already threatened by local white property owners. Now their whole community could be at risk. In their panic, Blue and Ben move Dottie’s body into the waters of a nearby white beach.
Dottie’s body washes ashore, and it isn’t long before all eyes are on Ben. Everyone saw how Dottie teased him and how they shared smiles. And their history goes deeper than Blue ever realized. But to save Ben from the outraged white townspeople, she’ll need to do whatever she can to dig up the truth and prove his innocence. Ben isn’t the only one whose life depends on it.
*Review Contributed by Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer*
Murder mysteries are always popular, so it is a perfect way to introduce some interesting history into the mix. I knew that public pools, beaches, and even lakes were segregated, , but there are very few novels about how this affected young people. There is plenty of teen drama in the story that makes it seem like Dottie’s boyfriend might be involved, but it was inspired to have the murderer be concerned more with the racial issues and the value of the Blue Beach land. Blue is just on the edge of so many of the problems in the community, so seeing everything from her perspective is quite interesting. The issue of colorism in the Black community is woven through the story. There are just enough details about the 1920s to add some interest, even though the murder mystery is first and foremost. This was quite a riveting read!
This is a little more young adult than Parsons’ other books, as there is a scene where their is a delicately described attempt at rape.
Parsons has a good eye for historical fiction, and I loved her Clouds Over California (2023) and How High the Moon (2019). This reminds me a bit of Sundee Frazier’s Mighty Inside, which also details the difficult position of being Black in a predominately white community in different decades of the 20th century. I would love to see Ms. Parsons write a book about the thriving Black community in the Greenwood district of Tulsa Oklahoma BEFORE the race riots of 1921.
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