The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher

The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem by Rudolph Fisher

This is a 1930s murder mystery set in Harlem, the first murder mystery written by a black author with an all-black cast: black victim, black suspects, black detectives, including a black police detective and a black physician. It's been republished a few times since, most recently as part of the Library of Congress's "Crimes Classics" series, with an introduction and footnotes by Leslie S. Klinger.

Originally published: 1932
Acquired: September 2022
Read: May 2023

It's pretty good, if not great. The basic premise is that a "conjure-man" has apparently been killed, and there are all too many suspects; a police detective and a doctor end up working together to solve the crime. The opening half is the best part, with the detective methodically interviewing and verifying the different suspects and accumulating all the clues, aided by the insight of the doctor. We get a lot of different segments of 1930s Harlem life; my favorite was Bubber Brown, who used to be a street sweeper but decided to launch a new career as a private detective investigating infidelity, reasoning anybody can follow someone. He's a funny character, and the source of the book's best jokes. (When Detective Dart points out he can't put "Inc." on his business card if he's not actually incorporated, Bubber claims it says "ink" because he's black.)

As the mystery unspooled, I found it got a bit overcomplicated and technical, and the ending felt very abrupt. I mean, I know you don't want a mystery to be very guessable, but I wasn't convinced this one was guessable at all, based on the clues provided. Enjoyable, and I'd recommend it, but unlikely to be anyone's favorite. I am curious to track down the previous appearance of Bubber and his friend Jinx Jenkins in Fisher's first novel, The Walls of Jericho. (Speaking of which, though overall Klinger's apparatus is pretty good, with lots of useful clarifications, but not condescending overexplanations, I had to infer these characters were reused from an earlier book by a passing reference in a footnote; weirdly, it's never explicitly stated.)