An unsolved murder haunts an elite black family in New England. Charmaine Wilkerson's novel “Good Dirt” weaves together grief, suspense and the story of a jar made by an enslaved potter generations earlier.
Estranged siblings Byron and Benny come together over their mother's death and their confusion regarding her final legacy: she's left them a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a venerable family recipe, along with a voice recording sharing her story as a young swimmer who left her island home with suspicions of murder hanging over her head. But she doesn't tell her whole story, and Byron and Benny have more secrets to discover before they…