"I'm fanatical about the HBO television series The Wire, which is quickly drawing to a close. Life without it will be hard for me. Fortunately, I have convinced my roommate Allison (who just came on board this season) to rent the early seasons with me on Netflix, and I will be able to numb the pain a little bit by following the pursuits of those involved in the program.

The first book I read this year was one such venture: Grace After Midnight by Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, a young woman who plays a ruthless murderer (also named Snoop) on The Wire.

Snoop joined the cast last season after a chance meeting with actor Michael K. Williams (brilliant as my favorite character, Omar). Not too long before that, Snoop was living in a hardcore correctional facility, serving time for killing a young woman in self-defense when Snoop was only 14-years-old.

I had been anticipating the release of her biography since I read about it in a fascinating Washington Post article about Pearson called "The Role of Her Life," which described this remarkable story from two different sides: Pearson's perspective, and the angle of the family of her victim.

A quick, brief read (this probably won't be the last title about her life), Grace After Midnight gives a voice to this unique woman in a platform that might not have ever been open to her. Co-author David Ritz offers a light penstroke, preserving Snoop's verbal cadence and rhythm -- those familiar with her shouldn't have much trouble vividly picturing her saying these words in her distinctive Bodymore, Murdaland (that's Baltimore, Maryland) drawl.

Ritz also wrote the brilliant bio Divided Soul about his close friend Marvin Gaye (for whom he wrote the hit "Sexual Healing") and has coaxed memoirs out of Ray Charles, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King and others (Sinbad!). I admire what he has done professionally, and he does something I'd really love to do, which is help unlock amazing books out of people with real stories to tell. Like Snoop.

Washington Post: The Role of Her Life
"

"Snoop (Felicia Pearson) was born a cross-eyed crack baby. Abandoned by her mother, she was taken in by a loving family in the ghetto of Baltimore. Despite being raised by a decent family, the lure from the streets that surrounded her was too strong, and as young as eight years old, Snoop was running the streets. When she was fourteen, she was convicted of murder and spent years in prison. Years later, she was discovered by an actor on the hit tv show, "The Wire," and soon became one of TV's most notorious female villains. But was life imitating art or art imitating life?
Here's a scene from "The Wire" that Snoop describes in her book:
This was a quick read that I couldn't put down. After finishing, I did a little digging on Snoop on the internet and found out that she was recently arrested for drug charges. "