I wouldn't be surprised to hear this book is where Carl Hiaasen got the idea of putting crazy looking characters in his books. ( )

The beginning is a little bit strange but funny in its way, and the plot is ok! but the writing is great. ( )

I've never read a Coffin Johnson and Grave Digger Jones story before (don't you just love those names?), so this was not at all what I expected. These books are set in Harlem in the sixties, and Jones and Johnson are black policemen whose turf is the colourful streets of Harlem. Police work was really different then, and certainly what the cops did to finally get their man would not be allowed today, but this book is earthy and real. You can almost feel the heat wave that is taking over Harlem while dead bodies keep piling up around Jones and Johnson. Definitely not for the squeemish or faint of heart this one. ( )

The Detective Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson Harlem crime novels are originals with few precedents (with perhaps THE CONJURE-MAN DIES by Rudolph Fisher being one). Many of them were indeed published as paperback originals in this country. ( )