American writer Chester Himes has been long beloved for his popular Harlem Detective series, featuring the Grave Digger & Coffin Ed stories. He was born in Missouri in 1909, where his early experiences with Jim Crow laws and racial violence would come to shape his later work. In the late 1920s, he was arrested and sentenced to prison, and he began writing stories while incarcerated. Upon his release, he spent some time in Los Angeles writing screenplays before eventually publishing his first novel, If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945), about a Black man working at a shipyard during World War II. His second book, Lonely Crusade (1947), explored related themes of racism, labor politics, and the fallacies of the American Dream. In 1952, he published Cast the First Stone, a novel based on his experiences in prison. He continued to explore these themes in his later crime novels.
Himes is best known for his Harlem Detective series, all published between 1957 and 1969. The books, set in Harlem in the late '50s and early '60s, star two Black detectives, Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. As exemplified by the protagonists' names, the series uses dark humor to lighten the intense subject matter. Himes's work has much in common with that of other important 20th-century hard-boiled detective writers, such as Raymond Chandler. But many of his books also shed light on the pressing social and political issues of the day. The series has been praised by contemporary crime writers such as S.A. Cosby for its honest depiction of Black life in Harlem at the time.
There are nine Harlem Detective novels in total, including the final installment, Plan B, released posthumously in print in 1993 and in audio earlier this year. Though the books feature the same protagonists, they all focus on different cases and can be listened to in any order. We’ve compiled this list of Himes's novels in chronological order, but you'll get the same enjoyment from them whether you hear them all in sequential order or jump around. The best place to start is with A Rage in Harlem, which introduces Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. Beyond that, feel free to approach the series in whatever way you choose.
There's simply no better introduction to somewhat hapless detective Coffin Ed Johnson than superstar narrator Samuel L. Jackson. With the impeccable line delivery he's known for, Jackson gets Johnson just right, effortlessly capturing his floundering naivety, desire to do right, and cutting humor. Jackson also nails the voices of the colorful cast of side characters: Imabelle, the woman Johnson loves (and gets into a whole lot of trouble over); Johnson's twin brother, Goldy; and a crew of corrupt police and con-men alike. This fast-paced novel about love, obsession, and secrets will leave listeners wanting more of Johnson and his friends and enemies.
Following the performance of Sam Jackson is tough, but if anyone’s up to the task, it’s Dion Graham. Graham does the zany antics of the remainder of the Harlem Detective series justice with his sharp, spirited narration. This listen opens as a series of bizarre events transpire on one busy Harlem block. An A&P is robbed. A preacher at a wake is watching the robbery from an apartment across the street, leans out the window, and falls—into a huge bread basket. He goes back inside to attend to the wake in progress. Later, a body is found in the very bread basket that saved his life. It's up to Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones to untangle what actually happened and find the killer.
Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones face a tense situation when a white man is shot and killed on a Harlem street. There are plenty of people in the neighborhood with reasons for wanting Ulysses Galen dead, but every lead comes with a string of complications. There's the fact that the man found standing over the body has a gun that fires blanks and the apparent involvement of a street gang. But even more troubling? Coffin Ed's daughter is somehow caught up in the whole mess.
All Shot Up is a great example of Himes's signature writing style that showcases his ability to blend shocking, suspenseful narratives with incisive social commentary. It's violent, gritty, more than a little bloody, and a smart examination into everything from corrupt politicians and racist detectives to dangerous heists and hit-and-run murders. As always, Dion Graham packs a punch with his spot-on pacing, ratcheting up the tension in scene after scene.
Though all of the Harlem Detective novels have a similar tone, and often follow related plot points and share thematic interests, they all have their own strengths and quirks. The Big Gold Dream highlights Himes's world-building and particular talent for creating a compelling sense of place. The midcentury Harlem he writes about is rich and layered: Himes vividly describes its sights, sounds, and, most importantly, its residents. This novel centers on a mysterious death at a revival meeting, but it spins out from there into various side plots that highlight the political and social realities of the neighborhood.
Throughout the series, Himes uses dark humor to heighten the absurd and often horrifying realities his characters face, and to add a bit of levity to books steeped in violence. The macabre humor in The Heat's On is particularly cutting, as Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones face a series of increasingly challenging circumstances. They're both chastised for using excessive force. Then Grave Digger is shot, and his fake death is announced as part of a big hoax. And this is all before the two of them are put on a case involving a large amount of heroin and some extremely shady suspects.
This listen features one of Himes's more convoluted, entertaining, and ingenious plots. Con-man extraordinaire Deke O'Hara has just been released from prison in Atlanta, and he's back to his old ways, running his biggest scam yet. He poses as a supporter of the Back to Africa movement and plans to run away with the takings of a massive Harlem fundraiser. But someone else gets away with the money—hidden in a massive bale of cotton. As always, Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed are on the case. Dion Graham is especially excellent in this one, navigating an array of characters and variety of accents with ease. Cotton Comes to Harlem is also one of several Himes novels to be adapted for the screen, with a 1970 film of the same name directed by Ossie Davis.
Published in 1969, Blind Man with a Pistol was the last Harlem Detective novel to release during Himes's lifetime. Set in the dripping heat of a Harlem summer, it follows Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed as they pursue two intersecting cases, both of which threaten to destroy the peace and equilibrium they've spent their lives defending. Harlem is roiling with riots, beatings, and general unease, none of which stops the two intrepid detectives from pursuing justice by any means necessary.
Himes died in Spain in 1984, leaving behind this unfinished manuscript: the haunting, powerful, and apocalyptic conclusion to the Harlem Detective series. It was not published in America until 1993, when it was finalized, compiled, and edited, based on Himes's notes, by Michel Fabre and Robert E. Skinner. The audiobook wouldn't follow until 2024. Unsurprisingly, Dion Graham rises to the challenge of narrating this complex work with skill and nuance. This isn't the place to start if you're new to Himes's work, but for listeners familiar with the series, it provides a captivating, thought-provoking ending to a series that has become a touchstone of American crime fiction.
Plan B takes everything that Himes wrote about in the rest of the series—the unrelenting racism faced by Black Americans, the country's tainted past, and the ongoing pain of living with such deep wounds—and elevates it. The novel centers on Black revolutionary, business mogul, and radical visionary Tomsson Black and his plan to upend race relations in America and overthrow white society. It is a scathing, harrowing indictment of American racism, one that resonates all too clearly today, more than 40 years after it was written.
