This is the eighth installment of the popular Tamara Hayle series by Valerie Wilson Wesley. Tamara Hayle is a Private Detective that has a leisurely, `home-girl' way of unveiling a mystery. She’s a character with flaws but that makes her feel real.

This was a book club selection and my first read of her series. I would have liked to have read “Where Evil Sleeps” to be completely caught up on the characters and their past. My favorite characters were the mysteriously sexy Basil Dupre and Tamara's best friend Wyvetta Green (the proud owner of the Beauty Biscuit), that adds just the right touch to this story. Tamara's quandary about her two lovers puts some heat into the action and I found myself wondering which man she would choose. I felt Tamara's anguish at her son's choices which put him smack dab in the middle of her investigation when Lilah, who is found murdered in her car with Jamal's backpack in the rear seat.

Not enough mystery/suspense. When the killer is revealed, it is slightly anti-climatic because you realize that it wasn't as complicated as you originally thought. However, the story kept me guessing with each flip of the page until the very end.

This was my first and sincerely not my last Tamara Hayle mystery. ( )