| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 07 January 2021 |
| ISBN-10 | 0008216479 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008216474 |
| Format | paperback |
| Pages | 304 |
| Price | £ 8.99 |
The Conjure-Man Dies
by
The sudden death of African conjure-man N’Gana Frimbo brings police detective Perry Dart and local physician John Archer to his consultation rooms, who are more than surprised when the victim recovers.
Review
In the New York district of Harlem in 1932, N'Gana Frimbo runs a thriving practice dispensing business and romantic advice and predicting the future prospects of his clients. Jinx Jenkins, the last to consult Frimbo on one particular evening, is alarmed when Frimbo suddenly appears unwell, and sends his friend Bubber Brown across the street for Doctor Archer. Archer calls for the police; Frimbo is dead, without a doubt.
Detective Dart arrives and puts together the short list of those who attended Frimbo’s salon that evening. In addition to Brown and Jenkins, there were three other men and two women, and he questions them in detail. It soon emerges that at least two of those present may have had a motive to do Frimbo harm. But the company is thrown into confusion when Frimbo reappears, indisputably alive.
This book is the first detective novel written by an African-American, the distinguished doctor, musician and dramatist Rudolph Fisher, who died in 1934 aged only 37. What immediately struck me was the elegance of the language, and the ironic style with which the author relates the unfolding of events, familiar from other American writers of the time such as O Henry.
Less familiar is the entirely black Harlem cast. Some, like Archer and Frimbo, are very sophisticated, well-read and knowledgeable on a range of scientific subjects. Most of the others show a lack of education, revealed by various degrees of susceptibility to superstition and the use of a patois containing a great deal of slang, much of it now extinct. The representation of attitudes and language as regards race would be regarded as entirely non-pc today, and in fact it is interesting how often I felt a twinge of discomfort.
For a murder story of its time, however, it certainly offers an unusual setting, and provides an interesting picture of this slice of New York which has since changed out of all recognition. The main story is offered together with an introduction by Stanley Ellin and a short story Doctor Archer’s Nose in which Dart and Archer are reunited to solve another crime.
Detective Dart arrives and puts together the short list of those who attended Frimbo’s salon that evening. In addition to Brown and Jenkins, there were three other men and two women, and he questions them in detail. It soon emerges that at least two of those present may have had a motive to do Frimbo harm. But the company is thrown into confusion when Frimbo reappears, indisputably alive.
This book is the first detective novel written by an African-American, the distinguished doctor, musician and dramatist Rudolph Fisher, who died in 1934 aged only 37. What immediately struck me was the elegance of the language, and the ironic style with which the author relates the unfolding of events, familiar from other American writers of the time such as O Henry.
Less familiar is the entirely black Harlem cast. Some, like Archer and Frimbo, are very sophisticated, well-read and knowledgeable on a range of scientific subjects. Most of the others show a lack of education, revealed by various degrees of susceptibility to superstition and the use of a patois containing a great deal of slang, much of it now extinct. The representation of attitudes and language as regards race would be regarded as entirely non-pc today, and in fact it is interesting how often I felt a twinge of discomfort.
For a murder story of its time, however, it certainly offers an unusual setting, and provides an interesting picture of this slice of New York which has since changed out of all recognition. The main story is offered together with an introduction by Stanley Ellin and a short story Doctor Archer’s Nose in which Dart and Archer are reunited to solve another crime.
Reviewed 19 February 2022 by Chris Roberts
