Description |
x, 234 pages ; 23 cm |
Contents |
The fall -- Weldon Haynie Thomas -- Harlem night -- Bound north blues -- Political parties -- The Ninth Annual Opportunity Awards banquet -- Misadventure? -- The morning after -- Downtown-upper east -- Harlem, in between -- After the fall -- The thirtieth precinct-Harlem -- Rumor, gossip, and innuendo -- Indictment -- Obsequies -- Arrested -- The Omada -- Police court -- The brothers' law -- Waiting for Weldon -- Before the fall -- The Harlem Branch Library -- Passing -- Rooms with a view -- Cinnamon and salt -- Color struck -- Just spring -- Witness -- Keys -- Office visit -- Evidence -- Eyes on the prize -- The Palmer method -- Vermilion Parish -- Blood will out -- One too many -- Reshelving -- Without sanctuary -- Minding the gap -- The Omada collection -- Common ground. |
Summary |
"Renowned African American studies scholar Karla Holloway has been working on her first novel, "A Death in Harlem," for some years, as she blazed bright, consequential, and broad trails as a professor, dean, and administrator at Duke University. In this Harlem Renaissance mystery, Weldon Haynie Thomas is Harlem's first "colored" policeman, blessed with insight, humor, resourcefulness, and a deep intuition. (While Haynie is a fictional creation, the first African American policeman in NYC, Samuel Battle, also served during this time period, between 1911-1941.) "A Death in Harlem" improvises and extends the plot of Nella Larsen's "Passing" by asking "what happened after the fall?" Officer Thomas investigates the light-enough-to-pass woman who jumped? fell? was pushed? from the Hotel Theresa during the Opportunity Magazine Awards Banquet. While A Death in Harlem is lively and conversational, it's also informed by a deep knowledge of African American culture and history -- which support pointed critiques of the relationships between Harlem's Sugar Hill colored folk, and the regular folk uptown, for instance. Impeccably researched and confidently written, "A Death in Harlem" is a life's work -- an especially fun, stylish, and edifying read"--Provided by publisher. |
Subject |
Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction.
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African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- Social conditions -- Fiction.
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African American police -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction.
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Homicide investigation -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction.
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Genre |
Detective and mystery fiction.
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ISBN |
9780810140813 (trade paper : alk. paper) |
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