No Daughter of the South: A Mystery

by Cynthia Webb

Laurie Coldwater, a New York journalist, returns to her Florida hometown and the white southern roots she has soundly rejected. Laurie's Black lover Samantha, whose father died a mysterious death there years before, persuades her to look into the truth surrounding the incident. Not only must Laurie encounter her family again, but also the ex-husband from her wild youth, now the local sheriff.

Undaunted in her search for answers to both her own and Samantha's questions, Laurie tangles with the local KKK and turns the town upside down -- but how far will she go in implicating her own family in racist events long buried? Brash, humorous and chilling.

208 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Megan]

As it happens, this is the third book in a row I have read that deals with racism. The first, If Looks Could Kill, deals with a protagonist of Costa Rican heritage that is often looked down on because of the tone of her skin . The second, Evil Dead Center, shows the widespread discrimination perpetrated on Native Americans. This one, No Daughter of the South, is about KKK-sanctioned white-versus-black racism.

Laurie Coldwater, full-time secretary and part-time journalist, travels from her home in Manhattan to rural Port Mullet, Florida—where she grew up—to look into the death of her new girlfriend’s father. Her girlfriend—Sammy—is black, as was her father. The fact that the death took pace 35 years previously and that Port Mullet is a typical rural Southern (read “racist”) town does not bother Laurie at all. That is, until she actually begins asking questions.

The truth is, I had trouble getting into this book. Although the voice is well done, Laurie Coldwater is simply not a very likeable character. Her situation in New York as a wannabe journalist is interesting enough, but without quite enough backstory. Her relationship with Sammy is not quite convincing enough. And the clichéd characters and situations in Port Mullet (Port Mullet?) were almost enough to make me scream. Laurie’s mother is the most typical, long-suffering wife ever, her father is a highly respected football coach, her brothers are beer-drinking real estate agents, the klan is not only active, but its members will not hesitate to rape. And quotes like “One test of a strong man is how well he manages his womenfolk are sprinkled throughout. There is a lot for Trump supporters in Port Mullet, too. In referring to the Klan, someone tells Laurie, “Their whole agenda was to look like a legitimate organization for white men who were tired of feeling the system was against them.”

Although I sincerely believe that all clichés are based on historical fact, having too many of them—even if they might all be real—is just too much to expect a reader to swallow. Less is more.

But despite all this, No Daughter of the South tells an important story about the intolerable way that people were and are sometimes treated in the South. Laurie's investigations not only point her toward the truth of what happened to Sammy's father, but let her know that much that she thought she knew as a girl was wrong. Webb’s style is engaging enough and the middle three-quarters of the book is a good read. It and Carole laFavor’s Evil Dead Center were finalists for the Lambda Award in the same year. Neither deserved the award, but I’m going to give this one a slightly higher rating; maybe in the neighborhood of 3.5

Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel.

Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.