... a murder mystery that doubles as a savvy examination of race and class ... “Decent People” practically turns its own pages, creating in the reader an insatiable curiosity that matches Jo’s own. Winslow proves able to simultaneously drill down and step back, letting the details add up and weaving the grievances of one character into the next until you don’t know whom to trust.
Watching Winslow subvert the conventions of an old literary form is half the thrill of this novel. After all, the shelf of mystery detectives is hardly crowded with 60-year-old Black women. And that’s not the only cozy convention Winslow toys with. There are corny cliffhangers, yes, and Winslow is liable to toss off bits of pastel fluff ... But Josephine’s amateur sleuthing draws her deep into the tangled racial history of West Mills ... Winslow further complicates that history by exploring the way racism is entwined with homophobia ... The larger social context that Winslow explores is what moves this story beyond one crime into a reflection on the myriad unacknowledged crimes committed across decades.
Hard-hitting ... Thanks to richly detailed chapters that switch between multiple points of view, readers are drawn into the lives and memories of several West Mills citizens.
Winslow's novel has a bothersome structural division ... I found Decent People an entertaining, relatable story and Winslow an engaging storyteller. Still, some characters feel underdeveloped, a few plot threads are left dangling and Savannah and Eunice compete to replace Jo as the book's protagonist. And although Winslow set the story in 1976, the book doesn't lean far into the zeitgeist ... By the time I finished the novel, however, I realized the details of the era... were less important than the social attitudes Winslow uses to frame the story.
Revelations about the cast’s relationships not only move the mystery forward but also contain pitch-perfect zingers and crushing truths about race, privilege, pride and shame ... Winslow invites readers on a satisfying ride that, through his keen observations of human nature, leads to deeper considerations of the glacial progress of racial equality.
Winslow offers several points of view in this character-driven mystery, once again pulling readers in with conversational, highly readable writing while deftly weaving in themes of race, sexuality, and small-town dynamics. Another winner.
Splendid ... [Winslow] both fortifies his mystery and tells these characters' stories, all of which intersect and are tainted by the triple scourge of racism, classism and homophobia.
Though not as intricately woven as Winslow’s first novel, this tale comes across as considerably more than a regional whodunit because of its author’s humane and sensitive perceptions toward his characters, even those who may not deserve such equanimity.
There are a trove of surprises along the way to the well-earned resolution, and Winslow entrances readers with strong characters, impeccable prose, and brisk pacing. As a character-driven mystery, it delivers the goods.
