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Bev Marshall’s third novel, Hot Fudge Sundae Blues, begins with thirteen year old narrator, Layla Jay faking her own salvation to impress a boy at church.

The novel is a coming-of-age story set in the 1960’s, in the small town of Zebulon, Mississippi.  Layla Jay lives a quiet life on a farm with her mother, Frieda and her grandparents.  Her mother marries Wallace, a so-called man of God who turns out to be phony.  Frieda doesn’t care whether or not Wallace is religious, as a matter of fact, she prefers it when he goes out drinking and dancing with her since she only married him so she and Layla Jay could move away from the farm. Layla Jay is uncomfortable around Wallace, and rightly so. Their lives together, under one roof, throw Layla Jay’s world into a tailspin and when a problem arises, Layla Jay finds herself doing two things: praying and lying. Not always in that order, but always praying and lying.  She means well, and we know it.  Her mother means well and we are forgiving of her as well.

The first half of the book is filled with problems that seem somewhat disjointed; however the second half deals with the consequences of choices and the complexities of familial love. Layla Jay talks with God every step of the way, but this novel is not about Layla Jay’s relationship with God, it isn’t even about her relationship with Wallace even though he is the reason for so many of her problems. This novel is about relationships with those we love—for Layla Jay it is about her grandma who longs to see her family saved by Jesus, her best friend June who harbors an aching secret, her relationship with her fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants mother, and her first love, a sweet boy named Jehu.

In Marshall’s first two novels, she made us fall in love with her characters.  Once again, Marshall makes us fall in love with Layla Jay and Frieda despite their elaborate lies and poor judgment.

Even more, Marshall does what all great story tellers do—she gets you to keep turning the pages.  The chapter endings are seamless and filled with questions that force you on to the next chapter, while the tone and pace is strong and steady. The novel is an easy, fairly quick read and the action is not loud.  It doesn’t have to be.  Marshall knows how to pique our curiosity bit by bit without ever insulting our intelligence as readers, and in Hot Fudge Sundae Blues she has done just that.

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