Decent People

By: De'Shawn Charles Winslow

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Bloomsbury presents Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow, read by Bahni Turpin.

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 fans 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..

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.

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!!!

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.

Hidden gem

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