Barbara Neely: A part-time novelist shares her secrets

By Nicki Porter | Published: August 1, 2016
Mystery writer Barbara Neely wrote her first novel Blanche on the Lam while working a 60-hour-a-week, full-time job. The book became the first mystery novel by an African American woman to be published by a major publishing house in the 20th century. Neely wrote several other Blanche White mystery novels, which were re-released by Brash Books earlier this year.

Neely’s award-winning mystery books discuss race, gender and class issues, but they’re al...