Sibella Giorello Reviews

Added December 18, 2006

The Stones Cry Out

Author: Sibella Giorello
Publisher: Revell Books
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: January 28, 2007
Genre: Mystery: Christian
Format: Trade Paperback
Price: $14.99
ISBN-10: 1-58743-199-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-80073-160-1
Reviewer: Phillip Tomasso III

For a debut attempt, I believe Sibella Giorello's The Stones Cry Out, will explode onto the fiction scene of top-notch mystery/suspense novels. Where Cornwell's Kay Scarpeta, and Grafton's Kinsey Millhone seemed to own the female sleuth market for years and years, I can easily envision Giorello's Raleigh Harmon moving in fast and furious for a slice of that action.

Harmon is an FBI agent working in Richmond; thankful she can work close to home enabling her to care for her oftentimes delusional, aging mother. Still distraught over the murder of her father, Harmon plugs away at doing her best to see that justice is served. That is until the FBI gets in her way and hinders her investigation into what appears to a racially motivated crime.

During peaceable African American street rally, things go from calm and controlled to chaotic and explosive when a white seasoned police officer, and black recovering criminal both fall from the top of a vacant building amidst the gathered protestors. Harmon and her near-retirement partner, John Breit is called in to conduct a civil rights investigation.

Immediately blacks and whites are divided over the matter. The blacks are certain the white detective was attempting to throw the innocent black man off the building, only the black man managed to pull the detective over with him, in self-defense, of course. While the local police are reporting the exact opposite, that the black man attacked the officer, knocking them both off the roof during the struggle.

Refusing to close the case, as her boss demands, Harmon relies on her faith in God, and her unique intuition to set herself against the odds and the FBI in her quest to find out the truth.

The Stones Cry Out is more compelling than a cozy mystery, less gritty than a hard-boiled mystery, and completely appropriate for all fans of who-dun-its. Richmond comes alive with historic description and detail (but not so much that it dulls the fast-pace of the tale). The characters are well defined, the dialogue crisp, and the plot convincing. I cannot wait for the next installment in the Raleigh Harmon FBI series!

Review Coordinator Note: Review is based on reading an Advance Reading Review copy.

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