Dapper & Deadly: The True Story of Black Charlie Harris

by Taylor Pensoneau

A compelling biography of the last of the big-name desperadoes from Southern Illinois. By the author of Brothers The Sheltons, Southern Illinois' Legendary Gangsters.

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really impressed with this book. This author is "localish" and came to an event at our library and gave away some of his books for free, I got this one. It was very well written, and no typos.. which greatly impressed me since it's not a big name publisher. It was very well researched and a pretty interesting story. I like the journalism style where he doesn't add conjecture, just presents the info to you and makes some hints at what he thinks, but doesn't actually tell you if he agrees with the FBI on Charlie.

Charlie Harris sounds like an interesting character. And I think, much like Jesus, his story got blown a little out of proportion.... but in Charlie's case, in a bad way. I'm glad that he was able to die in peace at home. Even if he did murder 25 people. He sounds like he was nice to his loved us and mean to his enemies, which is understandable... just you know, check it before you resort to murder. Also, what is up with all the arson in southern Illinois?

I will definitely be checking out others of his books.

[Eddie Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a young man this man had a huge impact on my life, he was a very patient man. He was always willing to stop and listen to me and answer any questions that i might have had. He taught me that it was always important to look your best when you go somewhere because you never know who you will run into. The book did a good job of telling who he was and the things he had done and seen. "uncle" Charlie was much more than that to me.