Chester Himes began writing Tough-Guy fiction in 1957,… and the most striking of his "new angles" is the fact that his stories take place almost entirely in Black America. The detectives, the setting, the themes, the plots, and the viewpoint are all Black. (p. 936)

In several ways Himes' nine Harlem novels constitute a cycle. Characters reappear, predominantly his two police detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, similar events occur, and incidents and persons in one novel are referred to in others. Fundamentally, however, the stories form a cycle because they are controlled by Himes' perception of Black American life, a perception that can be readily outlined by a brief examination of the works making up the cycle. (p. 937)

Details of character behavior in combination with the wild sequence of events convey Himes' essentially violent view of Harlem reality. Grave Digger and Coffin Ed are a basic part...