Persia Walker has worked for The Associated Press in Arkansas; Washington, DC; and New York. She has also written for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., (RFE) in Munich, worked as a freelance book editor, and done cultural reporting and voice work for European publications. Her novels Harlem Redux and Darkness and the Devil Behind Me are both mysteries set against the glittering backdrop of 1920s New York.

Harlem Redux features attorney David McKay, who is trying to understand the truth behind his sister's suicide. The book has been considered more of a literary mystery since it deals with class struggles within the African-American community, and interracial trust, as well as family betrayals, and the horrors of lynching.

Darkness and the Devil Behind Me introduced 1920s society reporter Lanie Price, a compassionate but tough-minded sleuth whose perseverance in the face of personal danger is noteworthy. In this novel, Price investigates the 1926 disappearance of a pianist during a December snowstorm and the million-dollar jewel heist that soon follows. The case takes Price from the swanky parlors of Fifth Avenue society to the upper echelons of New York's political bureaucracy. Darkness and the Devil Behind Me would be considered a more commercial work in that it does not particularly focus on any social issues and is more concerned about the sleuth's efforts to solve what turns out to be a very complicated crime.

Bibliography

Harlem Redux (2002)

Darkness and the Devil Behind Me (2007)