Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1084314 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 252 pages

From Booklist
Jackie Blue is looking forward to meeting with the Black Pack, a group of black professionals in Manhattan's publishing world that gets together to commiserate about the hardships of being a very small minority in a primarily white realm of trust fund babies. Jackie is especially looking forward to seeing hunky Victor, but she finds out that he was seen buying lingerie for his girlfriend. As upsetting as that is, things are about to get much worse. Her white boss is murdered, and Jackie is the last person to see her alive. Jackie has been secretly going to her boss's home to help her husband, Craig, with his book about famed black comedienne Moms Mabley. The book is terrible because Craig doesn't understand why the woman was an icon, but Jackie holds her tongue, then she's upset when her boss denies her the promotion she expected. Now that her boss is dead, Jackie is suspect number one. Diggs provides an absorbing portrayal of the publishing industry. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A fast-paced, compelling story about love and its power to both heal and redeem."

Customer Reviews

JACKIE OH!
I was introduced to Anita Doreen Diggs through the dark and captivating A MIGHTY LOVE. I loved her writing and particularly her dialogue which is the way real black folks talk. Because A MIGHTY LOVE was so moving, I decided to read A MEETING IN THE LADIES ROOM. Her second novel gets off to a slow start but if you hang with it past the first two chapters, you won't be able to put it down.

If you like murder mysteries, tales of suspense, tales of lust and sexual obsession and tales of unrequited love, its all here in one compact little story.

I have learned a whole lot about the dark side of book publishing and a lot of other things from A Meeting In The Ladies Room. But it wasn't totally bleak. The author is quite funny. Her hilarious description of THE BLACK PACK which is a group of African Americans who work in the book publishing industry is worth the price of the book itself. The heroine of the book is Jacqueline Blue, a book editor, who is accused of murdering her white boss. Although Jackie does work hard to extricate herself out of this frightening position, she spends a whole lot of time obsessing and fantasizing about Victor Bell - the man of her dreams. A man who isn't feeling her at all. Sometimes I wanted to shake Jackie until her neck rattled for giving so much energy to the Victor chase.

But the truly tragic figure in the book is Paul....a man who loves Jackie with all his heart and who is willing to settle for half a woman instead of walking away.

To put it simply, A MEETING IN THE LADIES ROOM is an expertly written, highly entertaining and amusing work of suspense by an author who is clearly on her way up. Do yourself a favor and read this book. Do it for a look at the way the book publishing industry works; do it for a look at the crap African Americans who work in that industry have to take; do it because you've once chased a guy who didn't want you; do it because you've once let a good man down and you now regret it. Just read it!

The wrong place at the wrong time.
Publishing editor Jacqueline Blue is a sister with a plan - to move further up the corporate ladder in an industry where blacks are few and far between. When she is accused of the murder of her boss, those plans go out the window. Forced to take leave of absence due to the investigation and impending trial, Jacqueline's focus shifts to finding the real killer, thereby proving her innocence. If the threat of possible life imprisonment is not enough to keep Jacqueline's thoughts and life in chaos, she must also deal with some family issues and the humiliation of finally coming to terms with the fact that the feelings she has for a fellow industry worker are completely one-sided.

Although it started off slow, A MEETING IN THE LADIES ROOM quickly turned into a real page-turner. I found myself anxiously flipping the pages, ready to find out who the real killer was, and the motive behind the killing. Murder, mystery, intrigue and a little bit of romance all combined make this a novel well worth reading. I look forward to future works from this very talented author.

Reviewed by Renee Williams
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

All I can say is �oh my�
Anita Diggs, Meeting In The Ladies Room was the best read I?ve had in a long time. Jacqueline Blue?s brush with the law had me in stitches. Yes, I know it was a serious situation, however, Ms. Diggs satirical use of dialog and language kept me chuckling throughout the entire book. The main character?s obsession for Victor was enough to carry the book, so yes; adding in all the rest made it ?the read of the year? for me. I can tell Ms. Diggs had fun writing this book and it showed. I look forward to her next fictional effort.