Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #171339 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Synopsis
Set in Harlem's underside in the 1950s, a fast-paced tale of mystery and intrigue unfolds as Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones work to halt the theft of thousands of dollars marked for the Back-to-Africa movement.

Customer Reviews

One Of The Very Best By Chester Himes
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. It will be hard to put down once you begin reading it.

Very Little Waste In This Book
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.

Deke O'Malley is sponsoring a rally for his Back-to-Africa Movement, which he organized soon after being released from Atlanta's state penitentiary. At the rally, he collects $87,000 from gullible families reserving space on one of his three non-existent ocean liners. The money is stolen by white gunmen and hidden in a bale of cotton. The cotton is picked up by Uncle Bud, a junkman, and eventually finds its way to Billie Belle, an exotic dancer at the Cotton Club. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed are relentless in their search for the cotton, Deke O'Malley and anyone else who may help in solving the crime. One such person is Colonel Robert L. Calhoun of Birmingham, Alabama and the Back-to-the-Southland Movement.

There is very little waste in this book. The dialogue and descriptions are very authentic. The writing is loaded with humor. I found it hard to put down right from the beginning.

A film based on the novel was produced by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. for United Artists in 1970. The screenplay was written by Ossie Davis and Arnold Perl. Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques starred as Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, respectively. Red Foxx was Uncle Bud.