Customer Reviews

Cotton Comes to Harlem

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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... The book doesn't concern Bible Flowers. It's about the efforts of two black detectives, "Grave Digger" Jones and "Coffin Ed" Johnson, to recover $87,000 in money stolen from a con-man/storefront preacher in 1960s Harlem. Along the way, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed encounter a few murders, a southern colonel, and a 50-pound bale of cotton.

Raymond Chandler wrote that detectives must walk the mean streets, but they must not themselves be mean. Well, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed walk the mean streets just fine, but the "not being mean" part gives them trouble; they doubt the feasibility of solving a case without, say, slapping around a few witnesses or firing a few shots into a crowd. Despite the detectives' unhesitating brutality, this novel compares well to the best of Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker. This is due not only to the spot-on dialogue and the stark, vivid character depictions, but also the detectives' uncompromising determination to bring justice to Harlem. The plot is better, i.e., less predictable, than any of Parker's, and Himes's depiction of 1960s Harlem is so bizarre, yet compelling, that it invites comparison to Carl Hiassen's Florida rather than Chandler's LA. Add to this Himes's unique, excruciatingly honest depiction of race relations in the 1960s, and you have one of the best detective novels I have read in years.

...

As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I genuinely admire the works of Chester Himes. I consider COTTON COMES TO HARLEM his finest work. Deke O'Hara is a recently freed con man, and his con of a lifetime has gone bad. His take has been highjacked, and our tough urban cops Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones are on his tail (as well as the tail of everyone else involved in the con and the highjacking of the small fortune). Himes writes terrific dialog, and he captures his setting perfectly. His characters are vivdly drawn, and his plot is a fastmoving steameroller taking many unexpected twists and turns. COTTON COMES TO HARLEM is THE BOOK by Chester Himes that every mystery reader ought to read.

This novel has some of the same characters as Himes' Rage in Harlem. This is not a sequel and it is not imperitve that you read "Rage" first, but I think that you will like this book more if you have read about Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones in the early novel.

As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I genuinely admire the works of Chester Himes. I consider COTTON COMES TO HARLEM his finest work. Deke O'Hara is a recently freed con man, and his con of a lifetime has gone bad. His take has been highjacked, and our tough urban cops Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones are on his tail (as well as the tail of everyone else involved in the con and the highjacking of the small fortune). Himes writes terrific dialog, and he captures his setting perfectly. His characters are vivdly drawn, and his plot is a fastmoving steameroller taking many unexpected twists and turns. COTTON COMES TO HARLEM is THE BOOK by Chester Himes that every mystery reader ought to read.

Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones are New York City police detectives assigned to Harlem. Both are highly valued by their boss for their unique skills and much respected by law-abiding Harlem residents who delight in describing their real and imagined exploits. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed make good use of a wide network of stool pigeons personally developed by them. There is very little waste in this book. The dialogue and descriptions are convincing. The writing is loaded with humor. I found it hard to put down from the beginning.

This is an excellent book, well written with a great plot line. The two cops seek justice and they get it any way they can. The book is extremely witty, funny and gruesome by turns. It's well worth reading and you'll learn some things too.

The dialogue, the action, the characters, it's Harlem world and it's all here! What else do you want?

I wondered if the book could be as wonderful as the movie. Often, it's the other way 'round, but in this case, the movie featured an unforgettable and hilariously heart-warming, if not gut-busting cameo appearance by Redd Foxx as "Uncle Bud". There was also that fabulous Galt McDermot sound track (buy it!), and the whole existential bit of being one of the first -- and best -- flicks of its genre.

So, after hearing the soundtrack online recently; purchasing it; and then ordering the video from the public library, I wondered, "will the book, by Chester Himes (a Clevelander, by the way) be equally nifty? Will it be worth reading in its own right?"

It certainly is!

Chester Himes is an accomplished and talented writer who developed his authentic style and abilities by a means every bit as ingenious as Hunter Thompson's retyping of Hemingway's "All Quiet On The Western Front;" or Kerouac's sticking together a 120 foot tracing paper scroll upon which to type his stream-of-consciousness style novel, "On The Road."

In Chester Himes' case, while serving time for armed robbery, he started writing for publication as a way to earn respect from the guards and avoid violence. It not only worked, but it helped Himes develop into an authentic, fascinating, and very readable author who's style is of a type you'll rarely find among people with advanced degrees or gigs as critics on the staffs of notable literary publications.

"Cotton Comes to Harlem" offers a spirited, spunky, and gamey look at life in Harlem in the 60s, tying together a plot filled with realistically-depicted Harlemites from all walks of life, including the two protagonist black detectives, Coffin Ed and Grave Digger. Read a Himes bio or two online if you must; and whether or not you've seen and enjoyed the 1970 movie, you'll probably relish this book.

Of all the crime novelists I've read, no one has influenced my writing more than Chester Himes. "Gravedigger" Jones and "Coffin Ed" Johnson are the best cop duo ever. They will stop at nothing--and I mean nothing--to solve a crime and bring justice to a 1960s Harlem where white cops won't even go. They are the antidote to today's politically correct sleuths who have to gush their feelings all over the place before they can solve a crime. These guys are refreshingly raw and brutal, and if you don't know Himes work, do yourself a favor and start with this book. Some of you might remember the terrific 1970 film version directed by Ossie Davis. (Might be time for a remake. Samuel L. Jackson and Ice Cube? Tarantino directing? You listening, Hollywood?) But I digress. Read the book. If you want to know what was going down in Harlem while Don Draper was screwing secretaries on Mad Ave, definitely check out Himes.

I picked this book up on a whim at a local library and tossed it in a bag filled with other 'light' summer reading. I had no expectations for the book, other than vaguely knowing that Himes was an African-American crime writer. About two paragraphs into the first chapter, I realized this was something special -- a detour into '50s/'60s-era Harlem that is sly, ribald and pulsing with life. I read it in every spare minute I had over 1 1/2 days and at the end, I knew I wanted to read more Himes. It's funny, dark, erotic, skanky -- not at all perfectly crafted (a few scenes are over the top), but that is part of its charm. This is a very human book and you feel the very real, human personality of its author, who sometimes can't help indulging in parody to make some scathing points about racism.

How can you a resist a book one of whose opening scenes features two con men cutting out the back of a "church lady's" Sunday dress & black undies while she's praying, to get at the money belt wedged under her gut?

Agatha Christie this ain't.