Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

Monday, Jan. 30, 2023--San Antonio

Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow is a follow-up novel to In West Mills (see review previous to this one) by the same author.  Some of the same characters from the first novel are in this one, but most of the main characters are new ones.  Plus, the time period is more recent.  This novel is a murder mystery.  Almost every major character has a reason to be suspected as being the murderer, but I guessed who it was at the 75% point of reading the novel.  That seems a little too early for knowing who likely did it.  The novel does a good job of showing how racism affects so much of life in the South--from blatant racism expressed by members of the KKK and older white people to more subtle ways such as where and how suspects in a murder investigation are interviewed by the police.  Another theme within the novel deals with gossip that runs rampant with members of the public jumping to conclusions that are not justified by the information known yet.  The book was better than okay but not great.  I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.