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Too Black for Heaven
She had a plan . . .
She would find the man that had done this terrible thing to her.
She would get into her cream-colored Cadillac and drive until she came to Blairville - his town.
She would look for his house and go there with the little pearl-handled revolver in her purse.
Then, as calmly as she could, she would tell him who she was and why she had come . . . and she would pull the trigger of the revolver as many times as was necessary . . .
She would find the man that had done this terrible thing to her.
She would get into her cream-colored Cadillac and drive until she came to Blairville - his town.
She would look for his house and go there with the little pearl-handled revolver in her purse.
Then, as calmly as she could, she would tell him who she was and why she had come . . . and she would pull the trigger of the revolver as many times as was necessary . . .
Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Day Keene
163 books33 followersDay Keene, whose real name was Gunnar Hjerstedt, was one of the leading paperback mystery writers of the 1950s. Along with writing over 50 novels, he also wrote for radio, television, movies, and pulp magazines. Often his stories were set in South Florida or swamp towns in Louisiana, and included a man wrongly accused and on the run, determined to clear his name.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 22, 2022
Finding this 1959 title among Day Keene’s hot passionate sun-drenched crime fiction, one might assume that the title is a reference to a femme fatale’s blackened heart. One would, however, be mistaken in that assumption. Writing during the height of the civil rights era when Jim Crow was still the unwritten law in backward Southern towns, Keene focuses here on social commentary more so than crime fiction, invoking everything that the civil rights movement fought against from divided lunch counters to whose word is believed by the law.
The vehicle that Keene uses for his story is eighteen year old, Dona Santos, who drove a cream-colored Cadillac and lived with her mother, Estrella, in a fancy apartment on Lakeshore Drive. Her mother had just signed a three picture deal with a major Hollywood studio and was an up and coming superstar. Dona is engaged to a Chicago police lieutenant.
Yet, before leaving for Hollywood, Dona’s mother tells her that she’s actually African-American and has been “passing” for Caucasian for the last eighteen years. Moreover, if that wasn’t news enough, she tells Dona that Dona is the product of a violent rape and that she had to flee the small town afterwards when the rapist accused her of assault for the scratch across his face.
Of course, Dona still being a teenager, decides she’s going to the Southern town with a gun and hunt down her “father” and kill him. She doesn’t care about the consequences and waltzes into the small town in her big showy Cadillac and acquaints this man, who then, though he suspects who she is, paws her and wants to take advantage of her.
Once down there, Dona seems to lose a bit of focus and unable to do what she set out to. Meanwhile, the reader is introduced to a whole new world of injustice in this small backward town.
The story is quite readable, although plot-wise it seems to be a conglomeration of different things. The confrontation between Dona and her biological father never fully materializes and the courtroom proceedings that make up the last section of the narrative seem a bit forced.
The vehicle that Keene uses for his story is eighteen year old, Dona Santos, who drove a cream-colored Cadillac and lived with her mother, Estrella, in a fancy apartment on Lakeshore Drive. Her mother had just signed a three picture deal with a major Hollywood studio and was an up and coming superstar. Dona is engaged to a Chicago police lieutenant.
Yet, before leaving for Hollywood, Dona’s mother tells her that she’s actually African-American and has been “passing” for Caucasian for the last eighteen years. Moreover, if that wasn’t news enough, she tells Dona that Dona is the product of a violent rape and that she had to flee the small town afterwards when the rapist accused her of assault for the scratch across his face.
Of course, Dona still being a teenager, decides she’s going to the Southern town with a gun and hunt down her “father” and kill him. She doesn’t care about the consequences and waltzes into the small town in her big showy Cadillac and acquaints this man, who then, though he suspects who she is, paws her and wants to take advantage of her.
Once down there, Dona seems to lose a bit of focus and unable to do what she set out to. Meanwhile, the reader is introduced to a whole new world of injustice in this small backward town.
The story is quite readable, although plot-wise it seems to be a conglomeration of different things. The confrontation between Dona and her biological father never fully materializes and the courtroom proceedings that make up the last section of the narrative seem a bit forced.
October 21, 2021
This one was pretty boring. Although it does have a murder I certainly wouldn’t call this a crime novel. It could just as easily be classified as a romance novel because that is its ultimate direction. I did read it all the way through - albeit finishing it by speed reading the ebook version on my phone - just to find out what happens, but was disappointed as the story never really got into high gear. The basic plot is a child of rape seeking revenge, but the depiction of racism and the subplot of miscegenation do take over.
October 12, 2025
nasty southern racist,
high yeller rape babies,
the deep south of the 1950,
what a setting.
Day Keene in top form.
high yeller rape babies,
the deep south of the 1950,
what a setting.
Day Keene in top form.
September 6, 2025
But Too White for Hell
A very weird book, because some things don't make any sense at all. That is:
1. Some of the racists are OK guys.
2. Some of the negroes are just plain no good.
Whoever heard of such a thing? It's almost like the Content of their Character was no good.
Oh well, a novelty at any rate. But belongs in the Sci-Fi john-ray.
A very weird book, because some things don't make any sense at all. That is:
1. Some of the racists are OK guys.
2. Some of the negroes are just plain no good.
Whoever heard of such a thing? It's almost like the Content of their Character was no good.
Oh well, a novelty at any rate. But belongs in the Sci-Fi john-ray.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews