Ave Blue

Nothing in the background of Colin Taylor a serious young black singer studying for a career in opera could have prepared him for meeting and falling in love with Avé Blue a street-smart single mother whose personal agenda includes revenge upon two notorious police detectives tried-but exonerated-in the shooting death of Avé's older brother Tamar a suspected criminal. In Stephen Burrell's noir novel of inner-city Boston in 1971 incendiary relationships propel the action and as the settings shift from bedroom to family room to courtroom the denouement erupts in a cause célèbre that shakes presumptions of guilt and innocence. A story of obsession self-sacrifice and ultimate redemption this novel can speak to any reader imparting something significant and valuable.