Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 24, 2023 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Off-Time Jive is a novella from author A.Z. Louise and is one of the latest novellas in queer small publisher Neon Hemlock's annual series of novellas. Neon Hemlock's works are nearly always interesting, and well Off-Time Jive's pitch - a historical fantasy taking place in an alternate Harlem Renaissance dealing with a magical murder mystery/fantasy noir - certainly made it seem like it would continue that trend. And I'd seen some good talk about this work on social media, so it was an easy choice to accept a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.
And well, Off-Time Jive IS interesting, even if I don't quite think the novella pulls everything off. The story's main character and narrator, Bessie Knox, is at times fascinating as she deals with the fact that her magic is fading even as she investigates a murder tied to a tragical magical accident in her past, and the story's setting in an alternate Harlem Renaissance where (Black) new magic was disdained by practitioners of (White) old magic is utterly fascinating. Add in a White-passing assistant to Bessie with ties to the mob and deadly magical cops could appear to disappear or worse anyone who gets in their path and you have all the makings of a really strong noir. And yet the story kind of stumbles in its ending, which doesn't quite feel earned by everything that comes beforehand.
More specifics after the jump:
Plot Summary:
Years prior, Bessie Knox's tenure at the Bronx Academy of Magic, where she learned how to meld Old Magic with New Magic, ended in disaster. Now, she uses what remains of her magical power to investigate magical mysteries...but her job is becoming harder, because Bessie's magical power is seemingly fading. So when she gets another tip about a magical mystery at the Academy, she puts in a call for help, and finds it in Calvin Bentley, a young white-passing black man with a lot of magical talent and some shady family connections.
But when Bessie and Bentley investigate the scene at the Academy and find a murder of Bessie's old white lab partner, it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary magical mishap...but one tied to the disaster that ended Bessie's own academic career. And if Bessie can't piece together what's going on quickly enough, she might be the next one to die....
Thoughts: Off-Time Jive takes place in an alternate Harlem Renaissance where there is a secret magical community underlying Harlem, one which for those in the know there is a massive upheaval in race relations as Black students join the academy and practice New Magic, in contrast to the White's well known "Old Magic.". There are also magical cops, the Greens, who pour over any possible magical wrongdoing and disappear those they find culpable. In short, it's a magical world much like our own prejudiced one, and it serves very well as a setting for this noir story.
It's a story that features a strong character in Bessie as the magical mystery investigator who wishes she could go back in time...to the time disaster struck when they were literally playing magic games with time itself. And there are mafioso who might have interest in the magic, to go along with a non magical girl that Bessie wishes she could court...but whom Bessie can't without giving up too many magical secrets. Add in the passing young black man Bentley and well, you have an excellent cast for an excellent noir. The only problem to be honest is the ending, where the culprit is revealed all of a sudden and Bessie resolves it all in a way that well, never really feels set up well, even as it manages to tie everything back together. And that's what keeps this from being a must read to me, since my final result was to reread, see if I missed anything, and then going "huh." It's entirely possible I missed some of what this was trying to do to set that up (notably, I'm a white reviewer so i'm very likely missing things) but for me, that's what makes this a bit more of a miss than I wanted with how intriguing the story's setup is.
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