--- description: Find out why 'Inner City Blues' by Paula L. Woods made the list. title: Inner City Blues: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4279d047557d7dde/698a407d22fb8587b7e2f116/InnercityBlues.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 03, 2023 # Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Paula L. Woods’ debut novel, _Inner City Blues_, centers on the tough tensions faced by Charlotte Justice, a Black cop in Los Angeles during the 1992 [L.A. riots](https://time.com/6169564/rodney-king-riots-beating-anniversary/ "undefined"). Charlotte, who faces daily challenges as a Black woman officer in her division, is investigating the murder of Cinque Lewis, a former revolutionary turned drug dealer. For Charlotte, the case has a devastating personal connection—Cinque killed her husband and infant daughter before he vanished a decade ago. Then, a second murder, this time of a respected Black doctor in the community, brings startling and scandalous revelations to the surface, and forces the officer into a race against the clock to solve the case before another fatality happens. As much a riveting crime tale as it is a chronicle of the heartbreak of the L.A. race riots, the 1999 novel became a standout in a revolutionary wave of mystery books in the ’90s that helped bring prominence to Black women writers in the genre. In 2000, _Inner City Blues_ was named Best First Novel by the Black Caucus American Library Association. **—**_Cady Lang_ **Buy Now:** _Inner City Blues_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780393338379 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/44raYTy "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309205/inner-city-blues/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309205/inner-city-blues/"},"headline":"Inner City Blues","datePublished":"2023-10-03T12:01:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:21:15.725Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309205/inner-city-blues/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4279d047557d7dde/698a407d22fb8587b7e2f116/InnercityBlues.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4279d047557d7dde/698a407d22fb8587b7e2f116/InnercityBlues.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309205/inner-city-blues/","name":"Inner City Blues"}}]}] ```