Plain Brown Wrapper

I really enjoyed this book and was so happy the first time I read it that it wasn't filled with the typical sex and drugs alot of books now a days are.

I bought this book to begin reading on the way back from a trip. I actually started reading while sitting under a hair dryer. This book is a real page turner and I had to read it. I couldn't wait to finish the book to find out who was the murderer (which I would have never guessed!) and now I'm saddened because I finished the book.

This is such a good book. I read it a couple years ago & just had to buy it. If you want something mysterious, but funny w/plenty of soul, then this here is your book. You'll love the Sista in this book.

PLAIN BROWN WRAPPER is a mystery novel starring Alexa Powell, a reporter at a Los Angeles newspaper. When a friend and fellow member of the National Association of Black Journalists was murdered shortly before he was scheduled to receive a prestigious award at an Association banquet, everyone is wondering "whodunnit." Who would want to murder Everret Carson? It turns out that a lot of people have motive. So Alex Powell and her friend Paul Butler, a reporter at a paper in Washington, D.C., travel across the country for a few days, interviewing several important and colorful colleagues in the publishing industry would might know something about who killed Everret Carson. Along the way, they encouter surprise, dead ends, a bit of danger, and a bit of romance. This novel was a really, really a pleasant find. The writing is intelligent, clear, and witty. The characters are funny and smart and realistic. The storyline is well-developed. And no matter how I tried, I was unable to guess who the culprit was until the end of the novel, which is a good thing with a mystery novel. I had never even heard of this novel before, but the endorsement of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on the back of the book told me that I should give it a try. And I have heard the author, Karen Grigsby Gates, on NPR several times-- she is an excellent reporter, like Alex Powell. This is an excellent book for travel or a vacation, and I think that even readers who don't normally read a lot of mystery novels will really enjoy this novel.

This was the most fun book I've read in a while. There were times I found myself laughing out loud. Many others, a knowing smirk. Maybe it should have been billed as a romantic comedy.No need to go into the plot, as others have already done that. I concede it wasn't the best mystery ever written, and that I really didn't give a hoot about the dead editor, but the characters felt real and I liked Alexa. Perhaps because I write romantic suspense for the 'marvelously mature,' I enjoyed this story about a mature, professional woman finding romance.