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Detective Ellis has Al under his wing, This is both because he recognizes the danger r this young man is in, and to make up for another young man of color he has lost in a past case. Grant, his boss, is convinced that Al is the murderer and goes out of his way to distort the scant evidence to prove it. Can Ellis and his partner Yuki stop Grant’s racist certainty? What does the mayor’s family know about Al’s origins?
| Lost Lad London |
Translation of Letters from Summers and Abigail Blackman by Eleanor Ruth. |
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Synopsis:
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Detective Ellis takes Al under his wing Next, both because he recognizes that young people are at risk, and to make up for another young man of color he lost in a past case. Grant, his boss, is convinced that Al is the murderer and goes out of his way to distort the scant evidence to prove it. Can Ellis and his partner Yuki stop Grant’s racist certainty? What does the mayor’s family know about Al’s origins?
| Lost Lad London |
Translation of Letters from Summers and Abigail Blackman by Eleanor Ruth. |
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191172 It’s a horrible truth, but a truth nonetheless: People are often judged by ignorant people based on their race. If this fact was brewing beneath the surface of the first volume Maya Shima 293’s mystery series, which definitely bubbles up to the top in second, as Detective Ellis works to keep Al safe. While we’re not sure if Ellis himself has experienced racism in his work as a detective (or in his everyday life), he’s well aware of the toll it can take. One of the most compelling scenes in this volume is a flashback to when his partner, Yuki Howard, joins the force. Ellis greets her gruffly, asking if he pronounced her name correctly. As they talked, a white detective walked into the room and told Ellis to have someone else show “Miss Geisha” around. We don’t know much about Yuki’s reaction, but Ellis quickly interrupted the man with a stern voice, “What did you say?” Such words are wrong.
While the scene ends here, it is by far the clearest example we’ve seen of how systemic racism permeates into the system in the story. Ellis is the unsung champion who denounces other people’s racism and quietly acknowledges people’s traditions, such as when he points out that snow is Yuki’s “weather” because he looks up the meaning of her name in Japanese. (or a
The meaning of her name – he’s not perfect, but he’s working on it.) This might be The reason he realized what Grant was doing when he pinpointed Al as the prime suspect in the mayor’s murder: It’s something he sees and deals with every day, and he knows that many of his white colleagues will, unless forced to Things you won’t admit.
This brings us to the second most compelling scene in the volume, Grant and Yuki bring Al in for questioning . Why Ellis didn’t fight to get there isn’t clear (although he probably just wanted to put distance between them so no one knew what he was doing for Al), but he did mention to Yuki about controlling Grant – Yuki definitely understand things. It didn’t take long for Grant to start berating Al based solely on his appearance. When he described the way witnesses described the suspect (“Black haired, Asian, 170- cm tall, male, Between and years”), Al pointed out that this description can fit any number of people in London . As Grant continues to try to get him to plead guilty, Yuki quietly points out that Grant’s choice to question and doubt who is actually racially motivated – and judging by the look on his face, Grant doesn’t appreciate her contribution.
because he doesn’t want to admit his prejudices? Or did he really believe Al was the murderer? He certainly seems blind to a major possibility in the case: the fact that Al and the Mayor are known to frequent the same place could mean that, instead of Al following the Mayor, the Mayor has been following aluminum
. In Grant’s extremely narrow view, rich white politicians simply don’t do that sort of thing; we have to wonder if knowing the mayor might be Al’s biological father will change his mind. If anything, the circumstances of the story lead us to believe that they only reinforce Grant’s prejudices, because after all, why would a good guy like the mayor want to kill a son he might not know about himself?
Whether the mayor knows about Al may be a major mystery. The more underlying question is whether the mayor’s wife and son knew; the mayor’s son and his wife, Royce, have absolutely every reason to be murderers trying to fix what he sees as a threat to his family. Ellis is playing his cards very close to his vest, so we don’t know how much he knows, but he did go talk to the mayor’s widow, which could mean he’s after this particular possibility. It’s also possible that Ellis was simply blind and saw in Al another young man who was accused of a crime he probably didn’t commit but killed himself before trial – and that loss has since It’s been bothering Ellis. Al is his chance to redeem himself, though it makes us question whether this is a motive that will help or hinder Al himself.
is a twisty, dark mystery that matches the artwork. There’s definitely something diverting here, possibly a whole bunch, and the way the mystery is combined with the exploration of systemic racism makes it a solid title. If you’re a mystery fan, you don’t want to miss this one, and if you’re someone capable of making a reality show, please consider an adaptation.
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