Dirty Red

From the "queen of urban fiction" (Publishers Weekly), Vicki Stringer, comes a scorching tale of love, lies, loss, and the indomitable spirit of a woman scorned.

Mischievous and manipulative, eighteen-year-old Red is an expert at deception with a provocative femininity. She employs her dirty ways - even faking a pregnancy with her boyfriend - to win a closet full of Gucci bags, a deluxe condominium full of baby accessories, a new car, and a book deal. But when one of Red's scams backfires and she winds up truly pregnant by her inmate ex-boyfriend, Bacon, she finds herself in more trouble than she's ever known. The drama truly unravels when Red's picture-perfect cons fall apart due to the power of - surprisingly - love.

From the "queen of urban fiction" (Publishers Weekly), Vickie Stringer, comes a scorching tale of love, lies, loss, and the indomitable spirit of a woman scorned.

Mischievous and manipulative, eighteen-year-old Red is an expert at deception with a provocative femininity. She employs her dirty ways — even faking a pregnancy with her boyfriend — to win a closet full of Gucci bags, a deluxe condominium full of baby accessories, a new car, and a book deal. But when one of Red's scams backfires and she winds up truly pregnant by her inmate ex-boyfriend, Bacon, she finds herself in more trouble than she's ever known. The drama truly unravels when Red's picture-perfect cons fall apart due to the power of — surprisingly — love.

Library Journal

What's so dirty about Red? The list ranges from the schemes she plays on her friends to the way she takes advantage of every man she seduces. Eighteen-year-old Raven ("Red") Gomez is not only beautiful but also deadly. Driven by a love of money and control, she maneuvers Detroit's rough streets, dominating and manipulating the people and situations in her life. Never receiving the love she craves from her mother and getting too much unwanted attention from her stepfather, Red is determined to pull one big con job-involving all of her friends and lovers-in order to make enough money to leave Detroit and her scandalous past behind. But by the time Q, the only man she's ever truly loved, realizes just how dirty she is and Red sees the error of her ways, it may be too late. Street-lit author and Triple Crown publisher Stringer's (Let That Be the Reason) hardcover debut is recommended for libraries where urban and contemporary African American fiction is in demand. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/06.]-Lisa Jones, Birmingham P.L., AL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Vickie M. Stringer is the publisher of Triple Crown Publications, one of the most successful African-American book publishers in the country and abroad. She has been featured in many magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times, Newsweek, Essence, and Black Enterprise. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her son and newborn baby.