Review of KING OF HARLEM© Lorie Ham
Aug 14, 2001
King of Harlem,
Steven Philip Jones
Writers Club Press, IUinverse
ISBN 0-595-17336-5
Trade Paperback $14.95
King of Harlem by Steven Philip Jones was a nice change of pace for me; after a long list of amateur sleuths it was nice to read a PI novel again. But Sassafras Winters isn't your typical private investigator. Winters is an ex Chicago Cubs pitcher and brand new at the private investigation profession. Working as his valet and sort of sidekick is another unusual character known as Chinaman. Chinaman seems to know everything (he'd make a good contestant on the Millionare Show), and often disappears for long periods of time. We learn very few facts about him, but then Winters doesn't know much either. Perhaps we'll learn more as the series progresses. Chinaman reappears this time in New York where Winters is working as a bodyguard for a young, brilliant director named Orson Welles.
Welles is in need of protection from Communist picketers who are against his production of MacBeth with an all black cast; a WPA-sponsored production inside the borough's Lafayette Theater. Winters finds himself investigating his first murder case when a white man appears to have been murdered by a member of Welles cast. Prejudice abounds in this story, as does the fact that no one is quite what he or she seems.
The production of Voodoo MacBeth, as the press called it, was an actual historical event, which makes this book all the more interesting. Jones does an entertaining and accurate job of portraying the troubles of 1936, provides an intriguing mystery, and interesting characters. King of Harlem is a fun read that gives one the feel of the PI novels from the past with perhaps a softer edge than some of the more hardboiled books. Review by Lorie Ham, author of Murder in Four Part Harmony & The Trouble With Tenors www.LorieHam.com
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