THE BIG GOLD DREAM by Chester Himes

GRADE: C-

*Book 4 of the Harlem Cycle*

Since absolutely loving Chester Himes's first two books in his Harlem Cycle, A Rage in Harlem and The Real Cool Killers, it's sad that the next three books that I read in the cycle have gotten progressively worse. Himes's writing is always assured and fun to read. But while both Rage and Killers feel fresh and alive and filled with memorable characters, this novel feels uninspired and was frankly boring, as if Himes was phoning it in by this time with more of the same formula. After Alberta White drops dead after drinking a bottle of water blessed by the Sweet Prophet Brown during one of his mass street baptisms, it's somehow linked to more murders and a heap of stolen money everyone wants to get their hands on. You might like it, but if you want to start reading books by Chester Himes, I wouldn't recommend starting with this one.

THE CRAZY KILL by Chester Himes

GRADE: B-

*Book 3 of the Harlem Cycle*

The 3rd novel in Himes's Harlem Cycle begins like a twisted Harlem version of an Agatha Christie mystery. During a liquor-filled wake for Big Joe Pullen, a man is killed on a bread basket with a very distinctive knife. There are many at the wake who have motive for killing him, including his sister Dulcy, her husband Johnny Perry, her wanna-be lover, Chink Charlie Dawson, the victim's girlfriend Doll Baby, and their opium-addicted Holy Roller preacher. But instead of Miss Marple trying to find out who did it, it's Harlem's two gun-happy detectives Grave Digger and Coffin Ed!

This book is more of a straight murder mystery than the first two novels and the plot is much more complicated and confusing, with many characters and motivations introduced in the first chapter. But Chester Himes's hard-hitting, satirical prose is still in full effect here! While not as remarkable as the previous books, this one is still entertaining!

COTTON COMES TO HARLEM by Chester Himes

GRADE: B

*Book 7 in the Harlem Cycle*

I was really in the mood for more of Chester Himes's Harlem Cycle books and this, the 7th book in the series, was the easiest one I could get my hand on at the moment. I'd read the first two books, A Rage in Harlem and The Real Cool Killers, and loved them. I had gathered that they don't need to be read completely in order, so I decided to jump into this one! In this installment, badass Harlem detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson rush to track down a slimy con man, who's been swindling hard-working Harlem families out of thousands in a phony Back-To-Africa movement, and ends up getting all of the money jacked. While investigating, the detectives discover that all roads seem to lead to a bale of Southern-grown cotton everyone seems to be interested in!

While not as awesome as the first two books, this one had the same dry wit and sly social criticism that I love from Himes! It was definitely entertaining, but I found that I prefer reading about the more colorful supporting characters and criminals over the detectives Grave Digger and Coffin Ed. Maybe that's why I prefer the first two novels in the series, where the detectives played more supporting roles. Also, a lot of the writing and ideas seem to be rehashed from the earlier novels. 

But no biggy! It was still irresistibly readable, and I look to reading the other 1950's Harlem adventures!

THE REAL COOL KILLERS by Chester Himes

GRADE: B+

*Book 2 of the Harlem Cycle*

This is the 2nd book in Chester Himes's Harlem Cycle and it's just as absurd and insane as his previous masterpiece in the series, A Rage in Harlem, which I loved. The plot starts almost immediately and moves at a breakneck pace. Just like in A Rage In Harlem, the story is so crazy, and the writing so on-point, that it's hard to stop reading. 

The hardboiled Harlem detectives, Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, are back on the job again when a big white Greek dude gets shot and killed by a fake gun in the middle of a crowded street in Harlem, causing all hell to break loose. After Coffin Ed gets suspended for blasting his .38 all over 128th Street when some little gangster throws perfume at him, Grave Digger investigates the case solo. Throughout the course of one night, he discovers that there is more to the case that he originally thought, where it seems like all connections lead to some hookers and a gang that calls themselves the Real Cool Moslems.

Once again, an entertaining read from Chester Himes.

A RAGE IN HARLEM by Chester Himes

GRADE: A

*Book 1 of the Harlem Cycle*

This is was first book by Chester Himes and I loved it! It was exciting, well-written, darkly comic, and unexpectedly absurd while still being hard-boiled to its core. Because of his love for his sexy lady-friend, the loose, conniving, high-yellow Imabelle (“She smelled of burnt hair-grease, hot-bodied woman, and dime-store perfume.”), simple and square working man Jackson loses all of his money to some con men, setting off a chain reaction that leads to a funeral home robbery, acid throwing, a runaway hearse, and a plot involving a trunk full of 18-karat gold ore. In order to navigate this dangerous terrain, Jackson gets the help of his resourceful twin brother Goldy, who makes his living impersonating a Sister of Mercy nun, soliciting bogus charity donations and selling tickets to heaven on the streets of Harlem. 

Sounds awesome doesn't it? It gets even better.

Here's a sample:

"She held him at arms’ length, looked at the pipe still gripped in his hand, then looked at his face and read him like a book. She ran the tip of her red tongue slowly across her full cushiony, sensuous lips, making them wet-red and looked him straight in the eyes with her own glassy, speckled bedroom eyes. 

The man drowned. 

When he came up, he stared back, passion cocked, his whole black being on a live-wire edge. Ready! Solid ready to cut throats, crack skulls, dodge police, steal hearses, drink muddy water, live in a hollow log, and take any rape-fiend chance to be once more in the arms of his high-yellow heart.”