A Rage In Harlem, By: Chester Himes

Chester Himes (July 29, 1909 – November 12, 1984) brings to life the sights and sounds of urban life and crime in the 1950′s and 1960′s Harlem in the first book in his Harlem Detective series, A RAGE IN HARLEM. The original title for this book seems more apt, FOR LOVE OF IMABELLE, which follows Jackson, an educated black man, blinded by his love for Imabelle and her trunk full of fool’s gold. He gets swindled by her con-artist husband and his cronies.

As with Himes previous novel that I read, COTTON COMES TO HARLEM, there’s always some type of confidence game or racket in the dark streets of Harlem and this one involves fool’s gold and counterfeiting. Just one of many rackets downtrodden people fall for or involve themselves in to try to make more money for themselves and who wouldn’t? Alas, things go wrong, people get killed, injured or go to jail. It’s just another day in the life.

The opening of the story has Jackson, who works for the undertaker, being swindled by a racket called The Blow. His girlfriend, Imabelle, introduces him to her friends and then talks him into the scheme. So he hands over all of his hard-earned money to, unbeknownst to him — three con-artists— who promise to change his 15 C’s to 15 G’s ($150 to $15,000). To quote from the book: “There was something about raising the denomination of money that appealed to the larceny in men.”

They blow up the stove in his apartment. Then they all scatter when a black, U.S. Marshal interrupts them:

“It’s the law!” Imabelle screamed.
“I heard him!” Jackson yelled.
“Let’s beat it!” Jodie shouted.

He tripped the marshal into the table and made for the door. Hank got there before him and Jodie went out on Hank’s back. The marshal sprawled across the table top.

Yes, there are a few action scenes like that one. I find myself amused by them. The story is a bit uneven in places. I didn’t find myself rushing through the story like I did with Cotton Comes to Harlem. But Jackson finds himself in a lot of trouble. After his girlfriend splits for parts unknown, he bribes the marshal to let him go so he can go find her. Much of the story shows Jackson and his brother trying to find Imabelle and her trunk full of fool’s gold.

Of course, things continue to escalate out of control and a few folks get killed. Jackson doesn’t have many allies and with the cops looking for him and his needing to replace the money he stole to bribe the marshal and then trying to find Imabelle, he tries to sneak past his irritable landlady who is busily checking all the rooms. You can just feel his frustration when he says, “as evil a woman as God ever made, ” Jackson muttered.” “He must have made her by mistake.” She gives him hell about blowing up her stove and promises to turn him in.

Jackson is overall a good guy or as everyone likes to say: a square who just succumbed to wants/desires and got caught; and there are some interesting characters in here starting with Jackson’s twin brother, Goldy, who sits outside the entrance of Blumstein’s Department store, disguised as a nun who goes by Sister Gabriel, who’s more or less a stool pigeon, a crook and a dope head. Most people don’t know what to think about the Sister of Mercy. Is he a man or a woman? With his gray-haired wig in place, I guess it’s hard to tell. I know he had me giggling at some of his misquotes from the Bible and the reactions from people was entertaining in spots:

“Give to the Lawd, give to the poor, ” he begged prayerfully.
The woman stopped and dropped three pennies into the box.
Goldy’s saintly smiled went sour.
“Bless you, Mother, bless you. If three little pennies is all the Lawd is worth to you, then bless you.”

and this one:

“Are you riding with this hearse, Sister?” one of the cops asked, touching his cap respectfully.
“Yes, sir, in the service of the Lord,” Goldy said slowly in his most prayerful sounding voice. “To take what which is left of him who hath been taken in the first death, praise the Lord, to wait in the endless river until he shall be taken in the second death.”
Both cops looked at Goldy uncomprehendingly.

Plainclothes detectives from the NYPD, Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, don’t put in an appearance until Chapter 8. They are two of the main recurring characters in the series. Both men are described as hard-hitting cops who are tough (but not crooked) because “[c]olored folks didn’t respect colored cops.” They have a reputation for carrying big pistols and shooting people dead if they happen to cross them. When we meet them, they’re maintaining order at the Savoy. They also know Goldy who brings them up to speed about his brother’s sudden string of bad luck.

While I enjoyed reading A RAGE IN HARLEM, I enjoyed COTTON COMES TO HARLEM more. Overall: entertaining story, with some dark humor. I’d say I enjoyed it. The story did get somewhat dark in tone since we had to follow Digger and Coffin Ed into the worst parts of Harlem. Chester Himes gives us descriptive details about Harlem and what life is like for black folks living there in squalid conditions and in his depiction of urban crime, alcohol and drug abuse. I think he gives you a good sense of time and place with the noise, unsavory smells and scenery. I do think the author had a low opinion of yellow-skinned black people or women in general. *grin* Imabelle is described as being yellow-skinned and is seen to stir up a lot of trouble, willingly or no.

It’s said that men tend to fall at Imabelle’s feet, like Jackson, who never thinks the worst of her and blindly believes she would never hurt him even though she’s partly responsible for his trouble/angst and weariness. While I’m not an authority on Himes work, my impression so far from his two novels has been to depict yellow-skinned women as sexually manipulative who loved to make fools out of men. As one white lieutenant describes her: “Strictly penitentiary bait,” he muttered angrily, thinking. It’s these high-yellow bitches like her that cause these black boys to commit so many crimes.” As Omar from The Wire would say, “Indeed.”

Additional notes: There’s a movie adaptation of the same name, directed by Forest Whitaker and stars Danny Glover and Robin Givens and Gregory Hines.