Tamron Hall Talks New Book - AS THE WICKED WATCH

ABOUT HER BOOK AS THE WICKED WATCH<br /><br />Emmy® Award-winning talk show host and television journalist Tamron Hall launches a new series of crime thrillers, featuring a main character modeled on herself, with AS THE WICKED WATCH: The First Jordan Manning Novel (William Morrow; October 26, 2021; $27.99). A small-town girl from Texas who has broken gender and racial barriers to land a job with a major Chicago television station, Jordan has leveraged her brains, looks, and grit to carve out a niche as a highly respected crime reporter, aided by her master's degree in forensic science. The brutal murder of a beautiful and promising Black teenager named Masey James could be the case that propels her to national stardom. But first, Jordan-who herself has lost a close family member to murder-must overcome the justice system's indifference and incompetence to track down the evil killer who is preying on Black children, and call out the many forces that leave them vulnerable.<br /><br />When twenty-nine-year-old Jordan arrives in her trademark designer stilettos at the abandoned playground where Masey's body has been discovered, it's a deeply distressing scene. A striking fifteen year-old with a loving mother and a stable home, Masey had recently been admitted to a coveted STEM school. In fact, she reminds Jordan of herself at that age-a golden girl with an unlimited future. Now, her remains have been found wrapped in a plastic sheet, her body showing signs of having been sexually assaulted, abused, and burned. What makes the situation even worse is that Masey's murder is the seventh unsolved killing of a Black woman in Chicago in the past two years. Jordan is appalled by the conduct of the police, who seem to be ignoring obvious leads that she quickly begins to uncover with her own investigative reporting. Disturbed by the tendency of both the police and the media to stereotype Black victims as somehow deserving of their fate, she reaches out to Masey's stunned mother. With memories of her own family tragedy still fr