A review by rants_n_reads
Murder at Monticello by Rita Mae Brown

2.0

Skip this book in the series! I usually like this series, but this book is definitely showing how dated it is. Even taking in account that this was published before the 1998 DNA study that lead the Monticello Foundation to assert that Jefferson was the father of at least one-if not all- of Hemming's children, this book still had too many white people discussing how "complex" slavery was. There are times when the author seems to acknowledge this fact, but still progresses with scenes in which white people believe in "slaves loving their masters" and Jefferson being a "kind master". There's also too much focus on how white people in the past probably hated being separated from the slaves- like slavery was as much a burden for white people who had to be haughty over another group. It's very problematic. There's also a lot of inferring that Jefferson was probably not the father of Hemming's children. Oh, no, he was just trying to be a gentleman and take credit to divert the scandal- yeah...that's bullsh*t. Things I did like: Mim's character development and the reflections on passing people who were able to climb the social ladder.