This Christian mystery stand out in that the main character is a person of color and the setting is the 1920’s. Those were aspects of the story that I also really enjoyed as I really fell in love with Annalee and her spunky determination to find out the truth against all odd. I also really like female characters that defy the norms of society and Annalee does that in spades. ( )

I’m a fan of mysteries and really liked the idea of a Christian mystery story set in the 1920s. And the prologue was great, ending with such a bang, I was excited to keep going! Sadly, the rest of the book didn’t really hold up to the thrilling start. One of the biggest issues I had was with the protagonist herself. A young, black woman in a nation dominated by white men, Annalee had all the makings of a smart, compassionate, innovative sleuth. Except she told herself, while trying to solve the crime, to stop trying to solve it and let it solve itself…which is exactly what you want from the main character in a murder mystery.

There’s a romance sub-plot in this book, too, which fell pretty flat for me. For one thing, there was mention about falling in love after Annalee and Jack only knew each other for a day or two. There was also a cliched contrivance to push the romance forward, which seemed unnecessary. And I think they weren’t nearly as concerned about perceived propriety as they should have been for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he’s a pastor, living in the church’s parsonage.

What tipped the scale to the rating I gave is that some things happened in the story that didn’t really make a lot of sense and weren’t explained. One character shows up somewhere in a fairly bizarre scene, and for a while, I suspected she might simply be a figment of Annalee’s imagination. It’s partially explained, but not nearly enough, in my opinion. This looks to be the beginning of a series of books with this MC, and I really wanted to be right there at the start of it. However, while I’m sure many who enjoy mysteries and Christian fiction will like this book, it definitely isn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tyndale House Publishers for providing me a copy of this book to review. ( )

This is the first book in a new mystery series set in the 1920s featuring Annalee Spain, a young Black professor at a Bible College, who resigns her position to investigate her father's murder. He was thrown from a train traveling from Denver to Chicago to visit her. The day before, he had found a dead baby on the ranch where he worked. Annalee travels to Denver to seek answers. She is accompanied by a young white boy who is searching for his father.
When they arrive, they are met with danger. A pastor, Jack, tries to help them. What they find is a corrupt town run by the KKK, dirty money, and secrets.
A good look at life in the 1920s, where racial tensions and corrupt money ruled the day. ( )

This had such promise. I'm afraid it didn't quite live up to it. No half measures here, just jumped in right away with life threatening violence. I would certainly have dropped the cause after the first chapter. I'm still wondering what will happen to the poor little orphan white boy, Eddie. I found this to be a bit of a cross between Jan Karon and Nancy Drew with a little more adult violence. It took some getting used to. ( )

It's 1923. Annalee Spain, a young theologian at a Chicago Bible college, receives a telegram urging her to go to Denver and investigate her father's murder. But trying to solve a mystery in a city infested by the KKK is a critical danger for Annalee in All That Is Secret by author Patricia Raybon.

I've been anticipating this ChristFic novel since I first saw a cover reveal for it last June. I didn't have to read the blurb or anything; I just heard it's a historical mystery featuring a Black young woman as the sleuth, and I was in.

Granted, given that I prefer short novels these days, I can feel a little iffy picking up a book that's around 400 pages, considering the likelihood that I may tire of the read before I'm even halfway through it. But I wound up getting engrossed enough in this novel to finish it in two sittings.

Now, I did find some of Annalee's reflections to be repetitive or drawn-out, sometimes with too many questions strung in a row. The rather angsty romantic thread wasn't my favorite aspect of the story. And I found the high frequency of words emphasized by italics to be pretty distracting. I believe that when writers use effective words and have a strong grip on phrasing, they can trust that readers' instincts will fill in most of the emphasis where they need it, without the writer having to visually force it multiple times per page.

Nevertheless, I appreciated the twists and substance of this story, and I'll be keeping an eye out for the second Annalee Spain Mystery. ( )