Customer Reviews

The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)

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This is the first African American mystery novel, originally published in 1932, and much celebrated by Walter Mosley, the most successful African American writer of mystery novels. (This book preceded Chester Himes's Coffin Ed and Grave Digger novels by more than a third of a century.)

W. E. B. DuBois castigated the group of younger writers of which Fisher was a part for sensationalizing low life rather than celebrating the "talented tenth" of which they were presumably a part. I don't know if Fisher was stung by this, but the protagonists include a physician (like Fisher himself), a policeman who is the only black who has risen to the rank of detective, and an African prince with a princely sense of noblesse oblige. Also an critically important part is played by a mortician, a kind of professional.

The main lower-status participants, who liven things up with a running game of the dozens, are not debauched, and the "conjure man" turns out not to be the wacko many thought him to be.

The middle of the novel sags. Unfortunately, Fisher did not live to hone his craft, leaving only this and _The Walls of Jericho_ and a few stories.

This book transports you into the Harlem streets of the 1930s. It has the vernacular, the attitude, the mystique, and the community values of residents of 1930 Harlem down pat. I found the narrative very inviting. This book has detectives, criminals, lawmen, africans, and mystics. Once you read the first chapter, you will not be able to put the book down. It is a shame that the author did not live long enough to produce much more in this detective series.

I discovered this book through my Amazon recommendations. In this case, their mysterious calculations delivered a treasure!

Rudolph Fisher, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, died at age thirty-seven, having written only two novels and some short stories. His detective novel, The Conjure-Man Dies, is a complete delight.

According to most sources, this is the first detective novel by an African American. There are no white characters. The crime victim is Frimbo, an African king in his own land, and in Harlem a Harvard graduate who makes his living by the exercise of his tribal psychic powers. He is invisibly and bizarrely murdered in the dark recesses of his office in the very midst of predicting the future.

Suspects include the various people consulting with Frimbo that evening, not to mention his cock-eyed servant.

There are three investigators, not merely one! Detective Dart, a rare Black detective, is out to prove his worth. Doctor Archer, called to the scene of the crime, lends his logical and forensic insights to help Dart. Then there's Bubber Brown, ex-street cleaner turned private eye, hoping to clear his friend from suspicion of the murder.

The plot has such amazing twists that I won't say anything more about it.

Published in 1932, The Conjure-Man Dies treats us to lots of vintage black humor, including witty insults between loveable ne'er-do-wells and Detective Dart's struggles with Dr. Archer's professorial jargon.

I suspect that Fisher, who was a successful doctor as well as an important writer, might have influenced the attractive character of Doctor Archer.

The Conjure-Man Dies offers a lively picture of Harlem in the twenties. I strongly recommend it as an exotic reading experience, as well as a highly original mystery.

This who done it story is very unpredictable. I never expected all the twists and turns. This book needs to be re-issued. The conjure man dies and some folks are trying to figure out "who done it."

I highly recommend, if you like good fiction.

I stumbled across this book one day in the library and took it home based solely on its status as the first known African-American detective story. It took me a few weeks to finally pick up, but when I did finally dip into it, I found it hard to put down. So often, when one reads an older genre book (this one was originally published in 1932), the language is badly dated, the structure creaky, and the overall effect quite stilted. Here, the language and setting brim with so much vitality that the rather formally structured book feels quite fresh.

Set in 1930s Harlem, the story kicks off when Dr. John Archer is summoned to attend to his neighbor Frimbo, a well-known conjure-man (aka psychic, sorcerer, fortune-teller, etc.). The doctor finds Frimbo dead, with a waiting room full of clients. Soon, Detective Dart of the Harlem precinct (literally the talented tenth of the precinct's ten black police officers) shows up to take charge, and allows Dr. Archer to join in the investigation. Unfortunately the corpse disappears, only to make a remarkable reappearance which confounds the police. Like many novels of the "classic" detective era, the story is intent on misdirection and confounding the reader as, over the course of the book, it's unclear just who the victim actually is, if a crime has actually been committed, and if so, how and why.

Dr. Archer and Det. Dart must wade through a variety of clues, red herrings, and possible motives to get at the heart of the matter. The doctor even jokes that he should write a book in which the least likely person isn't the the murderer for once -- a very clear wink to the reader that pays off in the classic final revelation in which all the suspects and witnesses are gathered in one room. Joining in on the fun is Bubber Brown, a colorful local entrepreneur trying to clear the name of his friend Jinx Jenkins, who has been locked away as the suspect with the most opportunity to kill Frimbo. Bubber and Jinx are the book's highlights, as their conversations are less dialogue, than an ongoing game of the dozens. (They duo are carryovers from Fisher's earlier Harlem novel, The Walls of Jericho).

Fisher was an intellectual giant, and the story is packed with scientific details from his own background as a pioneering doctor. There's also plenty of discussion of determinism, metaphysics, and at one point, an bitter comment on racism. Various lit-crit scholars have written articles over the years seeking to dissect the book for greater meaning, but the simple fact of the matter is that it's an entertaining read, both for fans of mysteries and those interested in the Harlem Renaissance setting. Soon after its publication, it was staged as a play by the Federal Theater Project, and the story has periodically been optioned for the film industry. It's probably a little too old-fashioned to work as a feature film, but might work well as the lead episode for a Masterpiece Theater-type period mystery series on PBS.

Mr. fisher has you guessing until the very end! If you like Mosley, then read the man who inspired him. An excellent murder (?) mystery.

I read it for an english class. It was my favorite book of the semester. My friends and I would just keep guessing what twist would come next, and we were consistantly wrong. Great fun.

nice book but it's no "The Man Who Cried I Am". (to be fair, the 2 books are completely different aren't really a useful comparison -- i just read them in the same class.)

I read this book on a flight from Philadelphia to Seattle and just couldn't put it down. The characters come alive, the plot thickens with each passing page and the ending is fabulous.

A MUST READ!!!