A Rage in Harlem (Harlem Detectives Book 1)

For all readers who believe our world is not changing,pick up this classic and rejoice in the fact that in a few short decades we have moved mountains.

The recent beautiful reissue of Chester Himes's Harlem Detectives series prompted me to buy this, the first in the series, and turned me on to the entire collection. Himes was an extremely sophisticated novelist with a tremendous gift for description and evoking violent action, and in this book he seems not only to break many of the rules for the hard-boiled detective novel but also to create his own that would later serve him well. His central character in this book is neither of his two detective partners, Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, who will recur in his other mysteries, but rather a splendid dupe of a man named Jackson who seems born for con men to prey upon. As the novel begins, Jackson is being duped by a classic con (the promise of changing ten dollar bills to hundred dollar bills) through the machinations of the devil in a red dress who has thoroughly seduced him, Imabelle. When the oven in his Harlem apartment where the alchemy is supposed to take place blows up, Jackson keeps getting in further and further into trouble: he winds up stealing money from his boss to silence a cop who comes out of nowhere immediately after the explosion, and then loses it all gambling before he can make the payoff. He doesn't even realize the cop is part of the con until he goes for help to his brother Goldy, a junkie who hides his own shady dealings by dressing up as a nun when walking the streets of Harlem. And he refuses to believe that Imabelle is capable of treachery, even when the facts stare him right in the face. The suspense of the novel is not generated by who did what so much as by whether Jackson can possibly get out of trouble, whether he will ever face the truth about Imabelle, and indeed whether Imabelle is as bad as Goldy makes her out to be or just a patsy 9as she later claims).All of Himes's later signature features are on display here: the slapstick violence that begins his novels, the dark view of humanity espoused by his two cops (one of whom gets acid splashed in his face in this work, an act which will have consequences throughout the series), the thoughtful detailing of the racist attitudes that have made Harlem such a crime den, and above all the magnificent portrait of Harlem itself. Himes is one of the most original of hardboiled detective fiction writers, and this novel seems to owe much less to Chandler and Hammett (or even to films noirs of the era) than that of any other period novelist of the hardboiled school I've encountered. (Indeed, the only person whose work he does seem to evoke sometimes is Will Eisner, the writer of "The Spirit" comics from the 40s: Imabelle's incredible presence of mind after being accosted by a would-be rapist and the cops after a big violent dust-up reminded me very much of Eisner's femmes fatales.) This novel may be messier and more confusing than some of Himes's later mysteries, but in some ways that's part of the fun: this is a difficult, demanding, and brilliant work about the messiness of crime in Harlem in the 1950s.

Get out the medication because somebody is believing in the impossible!A story about Harlem and con artists and delusional love 💕Jackson is in love with Imabelle, but does she love him, too? When he is conned out of his money, he knows that she is not involved; and nobody can convince him otherwise.I don’t know much about the citizenry of today’s Harlem, but they were certainly rocking in the past.The evil are horribly evil. The ugly, ferociously ugly. The gullible especially gullible. The stupid are brilliantly stupid.This story is as much about Harlem as it is about gold ore and a good con.Exceptional dialogue and brilliant scenic descriptions of times, characters and places. The descriptive paragraphs give widespread vistas that come with abrasive sounds and smells.A new author for me, and I am in love with his explosive writing.Well deserved five stars. 💫💫💫💫💫

This is my first book by Chester Himes and I loved it! It was exciting, well-written, darkly comic, and unexpectedly absurd while still being hard-boiled to its core. Because of his love for his sexy lady-friend, the loose, conniving, high-yellow Imabelle (“She smelled of burnt hair-grease, hot-bodied woman, and dime-store perfume.”), simple and square working man Jackson loses all of his money to some con men, setting off a chain reaction that leads to a funeral home robbery, acid throwing, a runaway hearse, and a plot involving a trunk full of 18-karat gold ore. In order to navigate this dangerous terrain, Jackson gets the help of his resourceful twin brother Goldy, who makes his living impersonating a Sister of Mercy nun, soliciting bogus charity donations and selling tickets to heaven on the streets of Harlem.Sounds awesome doesn't it? It gets even better.Here's a sample:"She held him at arms’ length, looked at the pipe still gripped in his hand, then looked at his face and read him like a book. She ran the tip of her red tongue slowly across her full cushiony, sensuous lips, making them wet-red and looked him straight in the eyes with her own glassy, speckled bedroom eyes.The man drowned.When he came up, he stared back, passion cocked, his whole black being on a live-wire edge. Ready! Solid ready to cut throats, crack skulls, dodge police, steal hearses, drink muddy water, live in a hollow log, and take any rape-fiend chance to be once more in the arms of his high-yellow heart.”

Had to read this book for a class. I am looking forward not to throwing this book away, selling it, or maybe even burning it. I think at this point the only thing that would make me feel better about doing a literary analysis of this stinking piece of trash is a gun, a few bullets, and target practice with this soon!Thank god gun ownership is still a protected right in the states! I read a few passages of this novel to a friend and they asked me to stop and said it was dirtier than reading a few average entries in Urban Dictionary! I think anyone who ever complains about the young youth of America and their dirty mouths should read what kind of crap they have to read in English classes that would assign a book like this! As for the other reviewers, for all I care they could be the ten actors who were assigned to play characters in the movie version of this book which I hope was a lot different, or it most certainly should be given it is not rated NC-17 and uses the "N" word about ten times a minute along with all the other filth that fills the pages of this novel!Save your sanity, save your hope in humanity, and do not buy this book for the yummy, "brilliant" imagery that is about as easy to come across post 1950 as it is to see a Twilight poster at your local bookstore!

Good.

Having got a bit fed up with some of the modern crime novels and their lonely, broken up, alcoholic, protagonists going home night after night to an empty pad and opening a bottle and listening to some jazz or other such music,while thinking about their personal life falling apart due to the job or their problems (physical or psychological), or trying to patch up a long finished relationship while trying to solve a crime with a mysterious villain who leaves taunting clues, I decided to try some older writings. I enjoyed Raymond Chandler and then found by accident Chester Himes. Never heard of him before. I bought A Rage in Harlem and Cotton Comes to Harlem. Written and set in 50's black Harlem, I had to look up the meaning of some of the slang words but easy to do on kindle. I love the maverick black cops, Gravedigger and Coffin, introduced in this book but more prominent in 'Cotton', they are both frightening and comical. Himes' descriptions of his characters and scenes are brilliantly done and easy to visualize. A breath of fresh (old) air. Go on - give him a go.

I love his books and find them hugely funny but not all always PC correct -real dark humour. This is the first in a series about detectives Coffin Ed & Grave Digger Jones and they are all a must to read.

Whilst Himes didn't live in Harlem he paints a wonderful picture of low life and the police trying to keep order.Now that Penguin have republished Himes' work its worth getting the others.

Fantastic book. This is the first of the series which features Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, two of Harlem's finest detectives. Chester Himes is a great writer and despite the books having been written more than 50 years ago, they still read so well and to me they are timeless. Perhaps that's the hallmark of a good novel. It's worth reading the books in order(I think) as the characters develop along the way.

Absolutely fantastic read. Can't believe how old it it.