The Detective Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson Harlem crime novels are originals with few precedents. Chester Himes published many of them as paperback originals in this country.

FROM THE PUBLISHER - Commenting on the series of which this is the latest work, the noted critic Anthony Boucher said: 'Genuine gallows humor: grotesque, outrageous, sometimes shocking, and generally pretty wonderful. ' And you will agree when you meet Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, Negro detectives in Harlem, the scarred, tough heroes of this roller coaster tale of crime and violence. They are assigned to cover the Rev. Deke O'Malley (late of Atlanta's pen) now pastor of Ham church, and sponsor of a 'Back-to-Africa' movement. Having collected $87,000 from his congregation, the money is promptly hijacked by masked white gunmen, with murder as one of the fringe effects, followed by an incredible chase in which, surprising to many Harlemites -- and the reader -- a bale of cotton becomes a prime consideration. In the course of this adventure we meet the ever patient Lieutenant Anderson; the Southern white Colonel Calhoun of Alabama; Deke's girlfriend Iris, who might be said to possess some of the cobra's less attractive features; and the irrepressible exotic night club dancer, Billie. In and out of the streets, byways, bars and dives of Harlem our two detectives wend their way, with their hard-shooting. 38 revolvers on the alert as they search for the hijackers and the elusive Deke. Stoolies, hoods, junkies, winos and others are encountered along the way, but none proves quite so interesting a character as the old junk man, Uncle Bud, who happened to find a bale of cotton in the street. COTTON COMES TO HARLEM is rich in lively dialogue and robust humor--and breathtaking action. It is superbly plotted, and the idiom and sense of place are accurately captured. This novel was published in France last year, under the title, Retour en Afrique, and was hailed as entertainment in the best tradition of Hammett and Chandler.

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