Decent People

By: De'Shawn Charles Winslow

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

From Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winning author De’Shawn Charles Winslow, a sweeping and unforgettable novel of a Black community reeling from a triple homicide, and the secrets the killings reveal.

In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina, in 1976, Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon—three enigmatic siblings—are found shot to death in their home. The people of West Mills— on both sides of the canal that serves as the town’s color line—are in a frenzy of finger-pointing, gossip, and wonder. The crime is the first reported murder in the area in decades, but the white authorities don’t seem to have any interest in solving the case.

Fortunately, one person is determined to do more than talk. Miss Josephine Wright has just moved back to West Mills from New York City to retire and marry a childhood sweetheart, Olympus “Lymp” Seymore. When she discovers that the murder victims are Lymp’s half-siblings, and that Lymp is one of West Mills’s leading suspects, she sets out to prove his innocence. But as Jo investigates those who might know the most about the Harmons’ deaths, she starts to discover more secrets than she’d ever imagined, and a host of cover-ups—ranging from medical misuse to illicit affairs—that could upend the reputations of many.

For readers of American Spy and Bluebird, Bluebird, Decent People is a powerful new novel about shame, race, money, and the reckoning required to heal a fractured community.

©2023 De'Shawn Charles Winslow (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

A New Kind Of Noir

A sensational story warmly and dynamically delivered by the legendary, Bahni Turpin. Decent People is a book that covers social history of the 40’s 50’s 60s and 70s and earlier with Rich a plum confidence, narrative flare deep insight into detentions that still exist in our nation. Decent People is less concerned with thrill inducing violence,. albeit centered around a perplexing violent crime. It is more concerned with the historical racial hierarchies and social constructs about gender, with their attendant denials, and hypocrisies that, produce the kind of real world crimes that all too often go overlooked and unsolved . De'Shawn Charles Winslow is an author, worthy of comparison to Walter Mosley, Chester Himes, and Gar Anthony Haywood/ - The supreme craft men with an intimate knowledge of the lives of Black people. I really hope there is a sequel. To this wonderful book..

Great read!

I really enjoyed the author’s first novel, In West Mills, and I enjoyed his second, Decent People, just as much and maybe even more!!! The character development was right on and made for a very entertaining, suspenseful read. Bahni Turpin’s narration is superb. I highly recommend!!!

Hidden gem

Great story and fantastic narration ! I really enjoyed this. The author has a great way with dialogue; some very funny exchanges.

Excellent read!

Another awesome book from Arthur De'Shawn Charles Winslow and narration from the amazing Bahni Turpin. She was perfect for this book and Winslow's other book that she also narrated called in West Mills.

A great story, beautifully read and performed

I got this as I thought it was a mystery novel and it is in a way (and I did manage to guess the murderer before the final chapter), but not at all conventionally so. Lies, secrets, grief, racism, and homophobia all feature in the novel but also the power of love, shining through the flaws of ordinary people. Highly recommended.

an interesting whodunit

Josephine (Jo) Wright retires from Harlem, New York and returns to her hometown, West Mills, North Carolina. It’s a tiny town, and it’s 1976. Upon her return, her fiancé, Lymp, is the main suspect of murdering the town’s Black physician, Marian Harmon, along with Marian’s brother and sister. Why? Because Lymp lives next door to them, and he’s Marian’s half-brother. Plus, Lymp had asked Marian for a loan a while back, and he trashed-talked her. The white authorities have little interest in investigating the murders. They are happy to arrest Lymp and be done with it.

Jo decides to sleuth her way into figuring out who killed the trio and why. This is a small town, and everyone knows everyone’s business. Plus, it’s a segregated town, with the canal as the dividing line in town.

Being that it’s 1976, no one is “woke” as they are now. Racism is rampant. Author De’Shawn Charles Winslow adds another component: a gay black boy. In 1976 it was believed that there was a “cure” for queer. Dr. Harmon just happened to have a “cure” to “have the gay removed”. In an NPR interview, Winslow stated that although his own parents didn’t do any formal “cure” for him, they did try to force him to do more “masculine” things but gave up. Winslow also stated that he writes these characters so that readers can understand them better.

What Jo discovers is a small town full of racism, greed, shame, cover-ups, illicit affairs, and finger pointing. While she attempts to clear Lymps name and reputation, she discovers a list of suspects who have reason for murder. This is an interesting whodunit in that it’s really a study of a community.

I listened to the audio, narrated by the amazing Bahni Turpin. I highly recommend the audio.

Good story!

Nice follow up to his first book. Would like to read more of his writings.

Easy mystery

Like Agatha Christie in its simplicity and complexity all at once. Clean. Fun. And the narrator of the audible book is super talented!

Easy Read

I’d love to listen to Bahni Turpin allllll day every day! This mystery story was an easy listen and I actually didn’t guess whodunnit, didn’t see that coming at all! Slow in some parts, but worth it in the end!

Love the story and the narration

Jo Wright is like a combo Jessica Fletcher/Miss Marple when she is on the trail of something. Love the story and especially the narration!