Fiction. African American Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:With the powers of observation and richness of plot and character, the author of The Emperor of Ocean Park returns to the New England university town of Elm Harbor, where a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town�??s past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of African-American political influence. And at the center: Lemaster Carlyle, the university president, and his wife, Julia Carlyle, a deputy dean at the divinity school�??African Americans living in �??the heart of whiteness.�?�

Lemaster is an old friend of the president of the United States. Julia was the murdered man�??s lover years ago. The meeting point of these connections forms the core of a mystery that deepens even as Julia closes in on the politically earth-shattering motive behind the murder.

Relentlessly suspenseful, galvanizing in its exploration of the profound difference between allegiance to ideas and to people, NEW ENGLAND WHITE is a resounding confirmation of Stephen Carter�??s gifts as a