Listed in "The 1000 Books You Should Watch Before You Die." Suffering tragic white racism in Arkansas, including his brother's rejection at the emergency ward of a whites only hospital and a long prison sentence for a youthful indiscretion, Himes viewed the life of blacks in America as unjust, absurd and menacing and wrote in such a way as to describe this daily horror. This is the first of a series of eight hard-boiled detective novels, several of which were made into top selling films.

"A Rage in Harlem" won France's Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere award in 1957. Harlem police detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson play a minor role in the first novel of the series. This book is about a bumpkin, Jackson, who is fleeced by a con wherein his ten dollar bills were suppose to be converted into hundred dollar bills inside an oven. A mixture of vicious brutality and dark comedy. For fans of hardboiled crime fiction, I would rate "A Rage in Harlem" at 3.50 stars.

I loved this book-the authenticity of the language: the characters: the truth behind the lives of people living in Harlem at the time of the story. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.