Roy Irwin Gift. Moon Blue.[United States]: Spirit Books, 2011.

Sergeant Holly Rollins comes home to Raleigh, North Carolina in the spring of 1943 to recover from the bloody carnage he experienced on Guadalcanal. With him he brings malaria and a lung fungus, a load of shrapnel embedded in his back, and a mind tormented by the horrors of fighting the Japanese. His hometown hails him as a hero, he’s given a medal of honor, and the mayor asks Holly to ride next to him in a victory parade, but that doesn’t change the fact that Holly’s best friend since childhood and comrade-in-arms, Powell Reddy, is buried in a swamp back on that island. Sergeant Rollins needs time and space to heal wounds both physical and mental.

Unfortunately, Raleigh in 1943 isn’t a peaceful place for healing. LaBelle Blue, the black woman who raised Holly, needs him to investigate the murder of her granddaughter Lana, and bring justice to her killer. This is no easy task in a time of such rampant disregard for the life of a young, poor, black girl, but LaBelle wants to bury her grandchild, so Holly goes looking. As he investigates, the young sergeant turns up old friends, enemies, lovers, and many memories. Angered by the racism and segregation that frustrate his attempts to discover the murderer, Holly quickly becomes entangled in the events surrounding Lana’s death, which encompass more than he could imagine.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

 

 

3 Comments

Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Gift, Roy Irwin, Historical, Mystery, Piedmont, Wake

3 Responses to Roy Irwin Gift. Moon Blue.[United States]: Spirit Books, 2011.

  1. I am very pleased to see Moon Blue in the UNC library. Before going to the army in 1952, I spent a year a freshman year at UNC, planning to study journalism. When I was released three years later, my family had moved to Michigan and I went on with my university career there, majoring in Philosophy.

    The book realized several dreams of mine. I wanted to write about my neighbor, Laura, who was wonderfully kind to me as a small child. And, I wanted to write about my brother, Dan, who told me the stories in the book about Guadalcanal. He also took part in the battles on Bougainville and New Georgia, and spent four years in a VA hospital after the war as the surgeons attempted to rebuild his right foot.

  2. I am very pleased to see Moon Blue in the UNC library. Before going to the army in 1952, I spent a freshman year at UNC, planning to study journalism. When I was released three years later, my family had moved to Michigan and I went on with my university career there, majoring in Philosophy.

    The book realized several dreams of mine. I wanted to write about my neighbor, Laura, who was wonderfully kind to me as a small child. And, I wanted to write about my brother, Dan, who told me the stories in the book about Guadalcanal. He also took part in the battles on Bougainville and New Georgia, and spent four years in a VA hospital after the war as the surgeons attempted to rebuild his right foot.

  3. Elizabeth DeBold

    Dear Mr. Gift,

    Thank you so much for your comments! Some of our favorite things about this blog are all the interesting back stories and personal histories we get to hear from authors that are often behind their fiction. Thank you for sharing these stories with us, for remembering North Carolina in your writing, and for your service to the United States. Please let us know when you publish again!