"The greatest find in American fiction since Raymond Chandler."-The Observer (London)

The shocking and explosive hardboiled classic: From murderers to prostitutes, corrupt politicians and racist white detectives, Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, Harlem's toughest detective duo, must carry the day against an absurdist world of racism and class warfare.

After arriving on the American literary scene with novels of scathing social protest, Chester Himes created a pioneering pair of dangerously charming African American sleuths, Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, who attempt to maintain some kind of order on the streets of Harlem. Himes died in Spain in 1984.