A Death in Harlem

In A Death in Harlem, famed scholar Karla FC Holloway weaves a mystery in the bon vivant world of the Harlem Renaissance. Taking as her point of departure the tantalizingly ambiguous "death by misadventure" at the climax of Nella Larsen's Passing, Holloway accompanies readers to the sunlit boulevards and shaded sidestreets of Jazz Age New York. A murder there will test the mettle, resourcefulness, and intuition of Harlem's first "colored" policeman, Weldon Haynie Thomas.

Clear glass towers rising in Manhattan belie a city where people are often not what they seem. For some here, identity is a performance of passing--passing for another race, for another class, for someone safe to trust. Thomas's investigation illuminates the societies and secret societies, the intricate code of manners, the world of letters, and the broad social currents of 1920s Harlem.

A Death in Harlem is an exquisitely crafted, briskly paced, and impeccably stylish journey back to a time still remembered as a peak of American glamour. It introduces Holloway as a fresh voice in storytelling, and Weldon Haynie Thomas as an endearing and unforgettable detective.

ISBN-13: 9780810140813

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Triquarterly Books

Publication Date: 09-15-2019

Pages: 248

Product Dimensions: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d

KARLA FC HOLLOWAY is the James. B. Duke Professor Emerita of English and Law at Duke University, where her research and teaching have included African American literary and cultural studies, bioethics, gender, and law. She is the author of eight books, including Passed On: African American Mourning Stories; Private Bodies, Public Texts: Race, Gender, and a Cultural Bioethics; and Legal Fictions: Constituting Race, Composing Literature.