This is a typically entertaining entry in Himes' Coffin Ed Johnson/Grave Digger Jones series.  The two Harlem police detectives investigate a stabbing at a wake and the usual cast of colorful characters--gamblers, pool sharks, holy-roller preachers, etc.--are on hand.

Himes may well be the best black American author of all time.  It seems he was sold short by serious critics because of his status as a "crime writer" & perhaps by mystery fans because of his race, but it appears a major reappraisal of his work is underway and he is finally getting his due.

(Reviewed:01-Feb-99)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

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Chester Himes Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Chester Himes
    -INTERVIEW: LAWRENCE P. JACKSON, CHESTER HIMES' BIOGRAPHER, ON THE ICONIC HARLEM DETECTIVE SERIES: "They take no prisoners. There are no heroes. Everybody is exposed for who they are at their least desirable or least beautiful moments." (HOPETON HAY, 4/15/21, Crime Reads)
    -ESSAY: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HEROES OF BLACK PULP: Finding inspiration and representation in the slam-bang cool of Black Pulp, past & present. (MICHAEL GONZALES, 6/27/19, Crime Reads)
    -
    -REVIEW: of The Essential Harlem Detectives: by Chester Himes (Reed Jackson, Spectrum Culture)
    -REVIEW: of The Essential Harlem Detectives: by Chester Himes (Bruce Riordan,. CrimeReads)
    -

Book-related and General Links:
    -Chester Himes (1909-1984)  (kirjasto)
    -ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA : Your search: "chester himes"
    -ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA : Himes, Chester
    -GIVEADAMN : CHESTER HIMES PAGE
    -Chester Himes (Spartacus)
    -Chester Himes (AALBC.com)
    -Chester Himes : Author of The End of a Primative (WW Norton Co.)
    -The San Antonio College LitWeb Chester Himes Page
    -Chester Himes (Stop You're Killing Me)
    -ESSAY : Introduction to Chester Himes' Letter (Mary Pagano)
    -ESSAY :  The Skeptical Reader:  Chester Himes' Lonely Crusade and Its Place in Postmodernism
    -ARCHIVES : "himes" (NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW : of If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes (Eddie Duggan, CrimeTime Online)
    -REVIEW : of YESTERDAY WILL MAKE YOU CRY By Chester Himes (Peter Bricklebank, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of YESTERDAY WILL MAKE YOU CRY. By Chester Himes (H. Bruce Franklin, the John Cotton Dana Professor of English and American Studies at Rutgers University, Newark)
    -REVIEW : of POLITICAL PARABLE PLAN B By Chester Himes. Edited, with an introduction, by Michel Fabre and Robert E. Skinner (David Traxel, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of Library of America : Crime Novels Volume I: American Noir of the 1930's and 40's Volume II: American Noir of the 1950's.  (Walter Kirn, NY times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes (Murderism ezine)
    -REVIEW : of Michel Fabre and Robert E. Skinner, eds. Conversations with Chester Himes (Bernard Bell, African American Review)
    -REVIEW : of Chester Himes by James Sallis (Courttia Newland, The Observer uk)
    -REVIEW : of Chester Himes: A Life by James Sallis (Margaret Busby, The Guardian uk)
    -REVIEW : of  Chester Himes: a life by James Sallis (John Williams, Independent UK)
    -REVIEW : of Chester Himes : A Life by James Sallis (Tom Nolan, San Francisco Chronicle)
    -REVIEW : of Edward Margolies and Michel Fabre. The Several Lives of Chester Himes and  James Sallis. Chester Himes: A Life.  (Champa Patel , 49th Parallel)
    -REVIEW : of Edward Margolies and Michel Fabre. The Several Lives of Chester Himes (Mark Sanders, African American Review)
    -Murder They Write : One Hundred Masters Of Crime (The Times & The Irish Times)

FILMS :
    -FILMOGRAPHY : "Chester Himes" (Imdb.com)
    -INFO : Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972)(Imdb)

GENERAL :
    -African American Mystery Page
    -Can You Dig It? The Original Black Eyes (Thrilling Detective)
    -Can You Dig The New Breed? The New Black Eyes (Thrilling Detective)
    -REVIEW : of EXILED IN PARIS Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett and Others on the Left Bank By James Campbell (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, NY Times)
    -REVIEW : of EXILED IN PARIS Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett, and Others on the Left Bank. By James Campbell (Deirdre Bair, NY Times Book Review)
    -ESSAY : Chez Tournon: A Homage (Paule Marshall, NY Times Book Review, October 18, 1992)

Recommended books by Chester Himes :
    -If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945) (read Orrin's review, Grade : B+)
    -A Rage in Harlem (1957)
    -The Crazy Kill (1959) (read Orrin's review, Grade : B)
    -The Real Cool Killers (1959)
    -The Heat's On (aka : Come Back Charleston Blue) (1961) (read Orrin's review, Grade : A)
    -Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965)