Do Or Die.

Do Or Die by Grace F. Edwards Doubleday, July 2000, $22.95 ISBN 0-385-49248-0

The newest installment in the Mali Anderson mystery series sometimes reads like the quintessential guide to Harlem. Our sleuth walks us up and down the streets of Harlem in great detail, which can sometimes be too much when you're eager to know who dunnit.

Starr, the daughter of Mali's father's best friend, is found brutally murdered just as she's on an upswing from drugs and prostitution. Is the murderer one of the women in Short Change's stable or could it be the wife of the man with whom Starr was having an affair?

Even though we never get to experience Starr and her father's relationship in real time due to her untimely death, theirs is a truly loving bond as is Mali's with her father Jeffrey--something we don't get enough of in contemporary black fiction. Edwards has created several compassionate male characters including Jo Jo, the delivery boy who helps out a prostitute who has fallen on bad times; and Alvin, Mali's bright nephew, whose warm, witty charm give weight to the story.

Mali writes in first person throughout, so that when we read Starr's journal entries, they sound like Mali wrote them. Mali, while seeming sophisticated, wanders in and out of ghetto rat behavior, especially when it comes to her man, Tad Honeywell. Edwards meets her mark as a writer by keeping the book in our hands to the end. Mystery fans won't be disappointed by Edwards' big-city showdown. On the contrary, they may just be found lined up waiting for more.

Yvonne Durant is a freelance writer living in New York.