All Shot Up

Harlem Cycle #5

by Chester Himes

The shocking and explosive hardboiled classic: From murderers to prostitutes, corrupt politicians and racist white detectives, Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, Harlem's toughest detective duo, must carry the day against an absurdist world of racism and class warfare.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Noir, African American, Thriller, 20th Century

171 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Chester Bomar Himes began writing in the early 1930s while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. From there, he produced short stories for periodicals such as Esquire and Abbott's Monthly. When released, he focussed on semi-autobiographical protest novels.

In 1953, Himes emigrated to France, where he was approached by Marcel Duhamel of Gallimard to write a detective series for Série Noire, which had published works from the likes of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson. Himes would be the first black author included in the series. The resulting Harlem Cycle gained him celebrity when he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for La Reine des Pommes (now known in English as A Rage in Harlem) in 1958. Three of these novels have been adapted into movies: Cotton Comes to Harlem, directed by Ossie Davis in 1970; Come Back, Charleston Blue (based on The Heat's On) in 1972; and A Rage in Harlem, starring Gregory Hines and Danny Glover in 1991.

In 1968, Himes moved to Spain where he made his home until his death.

Reviews

[Jason Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those novels in the noir tradition that should be considered a standard: there are grifters and schemers; whores and queens; all manner of vice and debauchery; coupled with two police detectives that are themselves not above pushing the envelope. I just reread the last four chapters again tonight and I cannot believe this isn't a monster movie at the same time I know why it isn't. Featured prominently are racist white men, gay blacks and two detectives that even Wesly Snipes and Danny Glover couldn't even hope to portray. This book portrays a hard time and the hard people who lived then. At the same time it finds humanity in all the people, even the hate filled. Every stereotype is challenged and met. Chester Himes was an astounding talent.

[Jure · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very realistic and believable. Witnesses interrogation scene at Paris Bar is simply mind blowing and it (almost) makes that famous bar scene from The French Connection look like it's coming from Disney movie. Crazy stuff, most writers these days would think twice before putting down such politically incorrect police violence and probably no publisher would dare to try selling it.

More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2014/04/a...

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It begins like this: An old woman is run-down in the street by a super-slick car. They see her get up, only to get run over again by some cops. Only they're not really cops, and the old woman is not really a woman, or old. Then, there's another killing across town outside a bar - and no one is talking. It's Gravedigger & Coffin Ed's job to get to the bottom of these seemingly unrelated crimes.

This is my favorite book of the series so far. Takes place 3 years after the first book in the series, "Rage in Harlem," in the winter time. The roads are slick and the investigation takes place in the cold. This environment heightens the excitement of the car chases. The law doesn't stop just because there's a little ice on the road. Harlem takes on a life of it's own.

The narrative focused more on Gravedigger & Coffin Ed than the previous books. This installment is not for the faint of heart though. Himes is getting creative with the way some of his criminals die - and it's not pretty. There's also a lot of humor in it, especially in the detectives' wisecracking.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The cool, young colored nurse at the desk lifted a telephone and spoke some words. She put it down and gave them a cool, remote smile. “I am sorry, but he is still in a coma”, she said. “Don’t be sorry for us, be sorry for him”, Coffin Ed said."

My first Chester Himes book (and the 5th in his Harlem Cycle), “All Shot Up” is filled with wonderful writing, dark humor, violence and crisp pacing. More than any of these things, Himes also recreates a Harlem landscape where dirty cops are on the take, transvestites ply their tread on corners, and racial tension is more prevalent than either of them.
Undoubtedly fun, if not incredibly original in its story, what separates this book is how that racial tension seeps into every action its characters make and every decision taken or not taken. Almost claustrophobic in its omnipresence, Himes created the near perfect blend of noir landscape and social commentary that never feels heavy handed. I’m definitely looking forward to going back and reading the rest of this series.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite hard to follow the plot, but heck, we’re here for the style, and Himes lays it on with a shovel. Ace.

[Ilana (illi69) · Rating 2 out of 5]

★★ ½ — I've enjoyed other books in the Harlem Cycle and was quite prepared for Himes's blacker than black hardboiled Noir serving of extreme violence and racism, soulless criminals and murderers, white racist cops using the 'N' word, corrupt politicians (in this case married and sleeping with young men), whores, easy women and weirdos of all kinds, with Harlem's tough detective duo Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones in the lead, and truly madcap plotting; a combination that made me squirm in the past, but which was served up with plenty of humour and made the whole mix work for me somehow. But this story, centred as it was around a community of gay black men with everything to hide and plenty of homophobic digs made me especially uneasy. The plot was as madcap as ever and more than ever confusing to me. There were men posing as women and a women posing as a men which made it all the harder to follow, and if there was humour there I failed to detect it. Still, it was Chester Himes, and he knew how to keep a story going, so I cannot say it ever got boring, which kept me from feeling like I was wasting my time. Seems I've been listening to them out of order since Audible and GR can't agree on that, but I'll keep going with this series and see where else he goes with it. The audiobooks narrated by Dion Graham are excellent.

[Daniel Polansky]

Maybe my favorite one of these? Admittedly they’re all very good, and very similar, but the mystery here was particularly sharp, there was a little bit more of Coffin and Gravedigger than there are in some of the others (which is a good thing), and the realm in which their investigation runs—the Harlem homosexual subculture, and the black local political elite – prove particularly fruitful terrain for Himes’s critical eye and ever-sharp elbows. I’ve been getting these from the library but at some point I'll be out somewhere and I’ll see them all on a shelf and I’ll buy then and then I’ll keep them.

[Colin Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of violence, on the streets and in the police force. This is Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson at their best, or worst depending on your view. This one focuses on a black politician who has the detectives support to some extent but he becomes embroiled in a scam involving campaign funds. An aside to this is a comical tale of a sailor being fleeced over the purchase of a car.

There is a good deal of violence but has the sad reality of the times and in particular the life of people in Harlem and their struggle for survival. Chester Himes became a master of combining fast, lively action with a good plot and a few twists all within a short easily read novel

4 stars for this one.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not usually one for detective novels, but Chester Himes is an amazing writer! I love the dark, fast paced, grittiness of his writing. I’d say this book is just as good as ‘A Rage in Harlem’. I’ll be reading more from Himes this year. 🕵️‍♂️🕵️‍♂️

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some startling moments! Himes is never afraid to do something different.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nunca he sido un amante de las novelas de serie negra y esta quizás no es la típica novela que elegiría uno para introducirse, habiendo tantos grandes clásicos de maestros como Chandler, Ellroy, Hammet... es raro entrar en este mundo con un autor que aunque todos los amantes del género conocen y aprecian, no es precisamente lo primero que uno encuentra cuando investiga sobre el género. El caso es que después de oír hablar de este autor y este libro en concreto me di cuenta de que por alguna extraña razón este libro estaba en casa de mi madre y decidí echarle una lectura.

Chester Himes nos cuenta una historia policíaca protagonizada por Coffin Ed Johnson y Gravedigger Jones, dos detectives que conocen al dedillo los bajos fondos de Harlem y que aunque no es que estén desprovistos de inteligencia e instinto de investigador al final siempre terminan arrancando la información de los testigos a mamporros. En este caso se mezcla el atropello de una anciana con el robo de la recaudación para la campaña electoral de un político y un tiroteo en la puerta de un bar.

La trama de robos y asesinatos es entretenida y está bien resuelta, pero lo mejor es la ambientación en ese Harlem invernal, sórdido y peligroso, donde nadie es trigo limpio y todos tienen cosas que ocultar, donde los policías se emplean como matones al servicio de un poder corrupto y atemorizan más a los habitantes del barrio que los propios delincuentes.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth in the series featuring Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. The books are primarily over the top entertainments aimed at a European audience expecting wild, violent, craziness from the States and African Americans. There's a modicum of social commentary, but what exists is always on point. The portrayal of 1950's Harlem is always eye-opening. All Shot Up is more of a mystery than previous episodes and we get a full helping of Grave Digger and Coffin Ed. But mystery isn't the point of these novels: shoot 'em up, stabby adventures are the real raison d'être. There are, however, moments of reflection revealing unexpected depths. Even Maxim Gorky comes in for a mention. Having read both writers at length, Chester Himes may have been a predecessor of Walter Mosley but wasn't a progenitor. Their plots, styles, and characters are so different that Mosley's influences must be sought elsewhere. [3½★]

[Charles Dee Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a sub-freezing night in Harlem, NYPD detectives Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson must deal with a $50,000 robbery, a fatal hit and run, and street shooting, an inordinate number of transvestites, and a beheading. With the city snowbound the next day, they pull the threads together.

All Shot Up occurs midway through Himes’ eight-novel series about the two detectives, and it is the first I have read. That violates my preference for starting at the beginning of these things, and there could be nuances to their detectives’ characters and backgrounds on some minor characters that I missed. But Himes’ writing is pretty near flawless, and his violent, funny vision of Harlem presents a complex and lively society with action moves from greasy spoon restaurants to drag bars to penthouse apartments.

One peculiarity of note: Apparently when the book was published in 1960, the provisional term “mother-raper” was a printable alternative to the obscenity readers know the characters use in its several variations on a regular basis.

[Parson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positives
+ Adventure packed and full of hilarious chain reactions.
+ The dialogue is snippy, quick and witty in some cases.
+ Raw and generally realistic -- even though somewhat grotesque in some places.
+ The case presented was bizarre and shows how life can intertwine in the oddest ways.

Neutrals
None

Negatives
- Despite the action packed nature of it, it's not really a nail biting, quick reader: reads slow in some areas.
- Have to be in the mood to read it, not one of those reads to just pick up.

Publisher Related
- General spelling errors, missing punctuation, and some poor printing quality in some spots.
+ Nearly seamless chapters -- feels like it's right off the type writer.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the twisted hilarity and violence of Himes that I love so much, with Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Pete doing their best for the race the way they do...

[August Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checked off another volume of Chester Himes's hardboiled Harlem Cycle detective series. Himes shines, as always, like I wrote in my thoughts on his novel The End of a Primitive, "as a shot-by-shot storyteller of drunken, debaucherous benders. His claustrophobic scenes rock with the explosive, teetering tension of a Cassavetes film – quiet conversation often erupts into violent rages."

Himes will regularly punch you in the gut with one-liners, ranging from pithy jokes ("It was 10 minutes by foot, if you were on your way to church, about two and a half minutes if your old lady was chasing you with a razor," [p. 20]) to searing insight on American racism ("'The rich used to live here,' Coffin Ed remarked. 'Still do,' Grave Digger said. 'Just changed color. Colored rich folks always live in the places abandoned by white rich folks,'" [p. 114]). The broader environment of a bitter cold New York City is set well by Himes here, too. Dead bodies are frozen solid, car windshields are caked in ice, and snow pummels the streets of Harlem.

Overall, I connect more with Himes's work outside of the Harlem Cycle series. I find the Cycle volumes a bit of a mess, and that his other work tackles issues of race and class more head-on, rather than wrapped up in a heavily contrived detective caper. Nonetheless, the Harlem Cycle books romp along and Himes always ties up numerous wacky and vaguely related threads by the end. After finishing one, I always feel as if I just wrapped up a wildly interesting, if somewhat discombobulated, conversation with a man sitting at the end of a dive bar who has had a few too many.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chester Himes sice psal kriminálky, ale přijde mi, že to byla spíš jen záminka k líčení chaosu a absurdity.

Tady to začíná poklidně, lupičem pneumatik, který sleduje, jak kolem něj jede Harlemem zlatý Rolls-Royce… a přejede stařenku. Řidič samozřejmě ujede. Naštěstí to stařenka schytala jen lehce, takže se vyhrabe na nohy, postaví se – a okamžitě ji přejede druhý vůz! Mezitím pasažéry zlatého rollsu zastaví police, praští je po hlavě a ukradne jim auto, a do toho došlo ještě k jednomu brutálnímu přepadení. V Harlemu začíná být docela mrtvo.

Dvojice detektivů, Rakvář Johnson a Hrobař Jones, vyráží do akce a řeší případy svým oblíbeným způsobem – mlácením lidí, dokud se někdo nepřizná. Mají výhodu, ve světě, kde se pohybují, není zrovna moc nevinných a každý se snaží doběhnout každého. A nemůžete se spolehnout ani na to, že muži jsou muži a ženy ženy… což tady může být otázka spíš finančních než osobních preferencí. Je tady i automobilová honička, která končí velmi Himesovsky – motorkářem s uříznutou hlavou, který se řítí dopravou a přivádí řidiče náklaďáku k infarktu a haváriím.

Přiznávám, tohle jsou asi momenty, proč Himese čtu… někdy mi to přijde, jako by byl Bohumil Hrabal černý a psal drsnou školu.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chester Himes wrote fast-paced, brutal, hilarious, hardcore pulp fiction. All the books I’ve read by him take place in the heart of Harlem around 125th Street in the 1960s. His crime world is a world where justice - or at least justice administered by a court of law - is absent. In this violent, chaotic world the police are criminals. The cemetery caretaker is a hustler. Men dress as nuns and rob liquor stores. Everyday citizens root for corrupt politicians to “Get Whitey!” Himes’ imagination knows no bounds in crafting the most absurd criminal enterprises with deadpan humor, heart-racing action scenes, and tense encounters with death. But not everything is so grim: the bad guys always get their due, though it may be in the form of street justice. The “good guys” are two black detectives - “Coffin Ed” Johnson and “Gravedigger” Jones - both completely encumbered by the inconvenience of ethics, but also touchingly generous, even humane. Chimes is too much or a realist to trust the supposed justice of courts and law run by white supremacists and thugs dressed up as black politicians. His justice is relentless, cold and karmic. In the end, everyone pays their dues.

[Esther · Rating 2 out of 5]

ñe demasiado aburrido, lo único que me ha gustado el final

[Tadzio Koelb · Rating 4 out of 5]

From an article that originally appeared in The Third Estate:

Chester Himes’s best-known characters are of course the “ace” detectives, Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. Always a step behind, able to gather information only by violent means, they bungle and bully their way through case after case in what must be some of the subtlest satires of police brutality and incompetence ever written. By virtue of their skin, Coffin Ed and Grave Digger are considered apart from a predominantly white police force, a symbol in Himes’ Harlem of the repression under which most blacks are constrained to live; and yet it is precisely the detectives’ blackness that makes their adoption of police rhetoric and tactics – almost exclusively of the worst kind – such a powerful representation of corruption, and of how it is institutionalized to protect the powerful at the expense of the poor.

All Shot Up provides a very good example. During the course of the book, the detectives kowtow to a corrupt Harlem politician; are involved in a chase that leads to the violent decapitation of a petty criminal; and regularly beat witnesses – all of carefully differentiated shades of black – including (if not especially) those who try to help them. As we watch the pair fumble violently but unsuccessfully through a series of conversations and confrontations, we must note that where Jones and Johnson are on the case important clues are commonly overlooked, witnesses are killed or left unquestioned, and the officers’ abuse of power is both constant and unapologetic; it becomes difficult to imagine that these are anyone’s idea of “aces”. All that can be said to redeem them are a belated resolution of the investigation, the donation of stolen money to the Fresh Air Fund, and a dedication to their work that nevertheless rests upon questionable motives. Do they do it because they believe in the law? If so, why do they feel so free to break what, in the parlance of the genre, they are “sworn to uphold”? Do they do it because they enjoy the position of power and privilege it gives them? Or is it simply that they needed to do something, and the work matched their temperaments? The issue of whether they brought violence to their jobs or their jobs brought it to them remains uninvestigated: in Himes the question of origin is always overwhelmed by the crushing demands of the status quo. There is no need to mention slavery – on every page, it is implied – and no time to worry about the past when the present is so alarming.

Race naturally plays an important part in Grave Digger and Coffin’s investigations. As black detectives in a time of segregation they police only black neighborhoods; they are often the target of racist jokes or insults by white officers. Although they react to these affronts with the outrage one expects, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed themselves embrace a politics of color, sex, sexuality, and status incompatible precisely with the meritocracy that would be to their greatest benefit were they in fact any good at their jobs. When challenged by their superior officer, the white Lieutenant Anderson, they tend to disarm him with vague accusations of racism. They are homophobic, as well, and yet their own position as black men serving a status quo that favors whites is mirrored throughout the book by incidents of cross-dressing. It is Grave Digger himself who remarks that the gay and black communities are similarly marginalized; he then goes on to threaten a helpful gay witness with an unnamed fate should the investigation go awry.

The cross-dressing also mirrors and highlights certain physical alterations that Coffin Ed and Grave Digger undergo. As the story progresses we are regularly reminded of the acid burns that scar Coffin Ed’s face, the result of an attack by a suspect during the course of a previous investigation. The burns were grafted with lighter skin taken from another part of his body, marring the physical aspect – color – by which Coffin Ed is both socially and professionally defined, “whitening” him a little. Because the scars are the result of his job, it is easy to see them as a physical representation of the moral disorder that marks his career.

Following the bungled pursuit that leads to the decapitation of a potentially important witness, Grave Digger crashes the car. During the accident he loses parts of two front teeth, and causes considerable damage to his lips; from then on, he is described almost always as lisping when he speaks, a characteristic attributed by stereotype – and in Himes’ world we are always acutely, even painfully, aware of stereotype – to gay men. To an extent, the detectives are negatively defined to the reader: they are neither white (not even light-skinned), nor gay, but each now bears some external resemblance to one of those groups. In each case the resemblance arises from a job-related injury, tying their physical degeneration to the course of their inquiry. The work of physically occupying a place, the job of “improving” a society by controlling it, changes people, we gather, almost as much as the chore of being occupied.

At an important point in the book, the detectives receive a call from a stool pigeon, a fortune-teller and gay cross-dresser known as Lady Gypsy. She tells them a car they are looking for is parked in her street; the driver and passengers are customers waiting in Gypsy’s other room. It is the only lead the detectives have so far. When they arrive, the car and its occupants are gone; Lady Gypsy and her companion have been attacked. Despite having provided an opportunity to advance their case, Gypsy is struck several times by Grave Digger during a predictably violent interrogation. It is telling that when Lady Gypsy announces plans to have her earlier assailants charged, she says nothing about pressing charges against the police.

This acceptance of the police force as an instrument of brutality is an indictment not just of Johnson and Jones but of the society which produced them. Indeed, at times it is almost as if it were because violence is expected of them that the detectives are so quick to indulge. Like the criminals they hunt, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed are part and parcel of the repressive machine, but in a sense, the book infers, so are those who accept them – and everyone accepts them. In Himes, black American culture exists exclusively under siege, and the soldiers who pitch the battle – whether police or criminals – are indistinguishably frightening to the civilian population.

If Himes’ heroes don’t fit the genre stereotype, neither do Himes’ stories meet expectations: the detectives do practically no detecting, for example, and there is little by way of suspense. The reader comes to realize early on that if he had hoped for a dazzling denouement, he had better not hold his breath. Crime and its resolution are not the point of a Chester Himes crime novel.

Himes, as an ex-convict, certainly had reason to distrust police. What perhaps emerges from his writing, however, is that he also had reason to distrust himself. Like other notables of the Harlem Renaissance, whether Ralph Ellison or James Baldwin, Chester Himes had access through his writing to a (predominantly white) world that few blacks could reach, and then only through the counterfeit of “passing”. Like many of his contemporaries, Himes blurred the distinction by moving to France. “White” culture as it existed in America was found not to be universal; this was the comforting obverse of the effect experienced by American blacks who visited Africa to discover a world they didn’t recognize or necessarily care for, but that comfort could feel like betrayal. It is perhaps not surprising that the name of the well-to-do political boss who feeds off the poor blacks of Harlem to support a lifestyle only whites can usually afford is Caspar Holmes – not all that far from the author’s own.

Himes never stands up for criminals, however, nor does he sentimentalize the victims of crime: in his rogues’ gallery there is no Arsène Lupin, no gentlemanly, happy-go-lucky imp to represent the populist sense of a corrupt but necessary system set aright by individual acts of mischief. Generally, criminals are hoods, parasites preying on gullible (but not necessarily honest) citizens, or else hardened killers who never consider their actions. Sometimes they are people simply so degraded by poverty that they are incapable of other behavior. Those who are victims today might be perpetrators tomorrow: no one is innocent.

During a quiet moment in All Shot Up, Coffin Ed and Grave Digger discuss a Gorky short story about a boy who disappears beneath the ice of a frozen pond; the body is never found, and townsfolk come to the conclusion that he may never have existed. The story is of course a parable for the turning of a blind eye, whether by a family towards such unpleasant subjects as an unhappy marriage or child abuse; or by a society and government towards police brutality and the systematic repression of a racial minority. In a certain sense, this is the crime that all Himes’ books investigate, and the culprit never varies. It is all of us.

It might be just this subtlety amid the carnage that makes Himes’ writing, seemingly so cinematographic, such a difficult thing to film. Each medium makes its own demands of the genre, and nuance is the thing least likely to translate. A viewer is very different from a reader, and anyway, Himes’ trick cannot work without a dissenting voice – a dissenting voice of authorial sarcasm which cannot be reproduced on film. A director must chose between offering Himes as he appears, or as he is: Will Grave Digger and Coffin Ed be heroes, “aces”, or will they be blundering, blood-soaked fools? Between the Scylla of Con Air and the Charybdis of Alphaville, Himes steers a dangerous course. Of course Alphaville was famously dull, even for intellectuals, but to strip Himes’ crime fiction of its delicately poised ethical uncertainty is to leave little more than thuggery. It is hardly surprising that the film version of Cotton Comes to Harlem was a bloodbath.

The movie based on For Love of Imabelle, retitled A Rage in Harlem, rather ingeniously sidestepped the issue by making a minor character, Jackson, both the lead role (potentially allowing Gravedigger and Coffin Ed to shade into the morally ambiguous figures they should be, but blunting them by denying their centrality) and a star vehicle for Forest Whitaker, malleable to the actor’s best qualities.

[Sarah Zama · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some things about Himes' novels you can always count on: unusual characters; witty, snappy, very colourful dialogues; a lot of action. "All Shot Up" is no difference and this is why I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it in spite the story was in fact quite disappointing.

I'm sorry to say this, because I seriously love Himes' work, but the plot was very sketchy and didn't really stay together. There are a lot of places, especially in the first part of the novel and up to its middle, where you get quite a lot of breathtaking action (like the chasing of the joker on the sidecar), but that action adds nothing to the story. Which is really a shame.

Past the middle of the novel, the plot seems to straighten up. Characters took up a sense, and they became more like the characters I know Himes can create: tough, weaked, ruthless. I like how all the characters play their own game, knowing fully well what game all the other characters are playing. This was one of the things I liked the most. But then the plot resolves in something quite unlikely. Many threads seemed to end into nothing. Yes, you can reconstruct what happened, but I wasn't all that sure it made a lot of sense.
Really a shame.

But it was an engaging read, if not fully satisfying. I'd just say, if you've never read any of Himes' novels, maybe try another one first. "Rage in Harlem" is fantastic.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tight, punchy little hard-boiled crime novel, with a heavy dose of extremely black humour, notably the scene where one character gets decapitated while fleeing on a motorcycle. The mystery is memorably bizarre and complex. Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones are dandy tough-nut cops in Harlem. Himes weaves in subtle but clear commentaries on race relations. The novel also deals intriguingly with questions of gender (especially given when it was published), with homosexuality and transvestism featuring significantly, and not just for the cheap laughs or transgressive thrills one might expect in a crime book of this vintage. highly recommended for crime fiction fans.

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters, the names, the action puts us inside Harlem around the 1950's and '60's. The dignity of the characters never suffers as they are revealed in all their human fullness. The cons and schemes are layers deep and the writing is full of poignant descriptions and plenty of humor. Himes is a master of pacing and has created two characters, Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones that are in my pantheon along with Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, Hercule Poirot, Jack Taylor, Mrs. Pollifax, John Rebus and Bony.

[RetroHound · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading two other Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones books and being disappointed that they seemed like side characters in the books, I'm happy to report that we really get to know the two Harlem police officers much better in All Shot Up. Also, I think this was the funniest of the three I've read so far.

Be aware that it deals with cross-dressers and homosexuals as a part of the plot. They are treated rather neutrally in my opinion, but others may be put off. I'm guessing that anyone who is passionate about that issue on either side will be put off.

[Kathryn Castles · Rating 5 out of 5]

His writing is fantastic, so funny and so descriptive. The violence can be eye popping. The gender politics are of the time, but also open minded for the time, so that didn't get in my way. I've read other books in this series - I loved getting to spend extra time with Digger Jones and Coffin Ed here, rather than their walk-on parts elsewhere. A joyous and quick read I would definitely recommend.

[Oscar Espejo Badiola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Va a menos me parece a mí, tardé mucho en meterme en la historia, vamos que me metí cuando acababa la historia y ni aún así me gustó la historia, un poco enrevesada, me parece que Ataúd y Sepulturero no dan para más.
La historia es un robo con asesinato en los que parece no es la realidad, pero, repito, no me ha llegado ni llenado.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's crazy, man. Crazy.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel felt more serious, and was definitely more gruesome, than previous books in the Harlem Cycle. There is plenty of violence, all of it described dispassionately, which makes it more disturbing in a way. Coffin Ed and Gravedigger are in it from the start to the finish, and that's a plus, since I read these books for them.  The mystery had some very satisfying twists that I did not see coming.  I was also surprised at the number of queer and transgender characters, and how matter-of-fact the other characters were about them.  Given the time that this was written, I did not expect that kind of attitude.

If you like corruption, this book has it ALL: corrupt cops, corrupt politicians, corrupt car salesmen, corrupt prostitutes, corrupt mobsters, corrupt detectives, corrupt funeral home directors ... For such a compact story, this book has a huge cast of characters, and I started to get them confused, especially because Himes has a habit of thoroughly describing a character first, and then giving their name much later in the book.  The first chapter opens with several unnamed characters (a Himes specialty, keeping you guessing until he decides to tell you): the tire thief, the driver of the gold Cadillac and the woman and man in a Homburg hat with him, the three men in police uniforms in the black Buick (one white man and two Black men), and the hit and run victim.  I started writing down everyone's names ...

Cast of characters:
Roman Hill - the driver of the Cadillac
Sassafras Jenkins - the woman in the Cadillac (and the tire thief's gf)
Mister Baron - the man in the black Homburg with Sassafras and Roman
Det Grave Digger Jones
Det Coffin Ed Johnson - the more hot headed one with acid scars
Lieutenant Anderson - white cop
Joe Abrams - white cop
Det Haggerty - Homicide detective
Doc Fullhouse - the ME
Benjamin Zazuly - an accountant, called from Paris Bar to report a double murder on the sidewalk out front
Casper Holmes - the third man on the sidewalk, knocked unconscious
Mammy & Mister Louise - run the Geechy Hog Store cafeteria on 124th St
Snake Hips (Lucius Lambert) - a female impersonator at the Down Beat Club, one of the murder victims in front of Paris Bar
Black Beauty (Junior Ball) - pimp and companion of Snake Hips, who has been seen hanging around with Mr Baron, who has been seen with an unnamed white man entertainer; Black Beauty is the hit and run victim found at the church
Det Tombs - Homicide detective
Alfonso Marcus - bartender at Paris Bar, former lover of Snake Hips, and witness to the sidewalk shootings
Paul Zalkin - the white homicide victim in front of Paris Bar, a Pinkerton detective, was hired by the secretary of Holme's party to follow Holmes to make sure he got home safe with money for an election campaign
Lieutenant Brogan - cop (homicide?)
Stick & Price - police patrolmen, hit by loose tire let go from the tire thief
Lady Gypsy - fortune teller on 116th
Leila Holmes - Casper's wife, Junior Ball's cousin
Grover Leighton - committee governor, gave Casper the money
Zog Ziegler - Junior Balls' business associate, downtown
Herbert Peters - from Pinkerton Detectives
Joe Green - biggest numbers bookie in Harlem
Big Six - one of Joe Green's employees/bodyguards
George Drake - one of Joe Green's employees/bodyguards
Henry (Hank) Exodus Clay - funeral home director
Johnny - works with Zog (or Zog works for him?)

With all those named characters, I don't think the tire thief is ever actually named, although he plays a key role in the plot.




Words I looked up:
Geechie is a word referring to the U.S. Lowcountry ethnocultural group of the descendants of West African slaves who retained their cultural and linguistic history, otherwise known as the Gullah people and Gullah language. It has been used as a nickname for persons originating out of this culture and ethnic group
Water task - I think this might be a kettle or water tank, but I could find no evidence online.  I found a list of 52 syllables for “water tank” and not one of them was “task.”  There were multiple typos in this book and I have to assume “task” was a typo for “tank.”
Snap brim hat - a hat usually made of felt with the brim turned up in back and down in front and with a dented crown.
astrakhan cap - a peaked wool cap, originally from Uzbekistan, commonly worn by Muslim and Soviet men
poule - stewing chicken; slang for a promiscous young woman
saraband - slow Spanish dance
keister - a bag or suitcase 

[Kelvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 1960 book by famous black American crime mystery writer Chester Himes and is the 5th book in his hard-boiled Harlem Detective series featuring black NYPD detective duo Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. The setting is in Harlem, New York in late 1950s. It is a well written book with an interesting plot, great scenes and witty dialogue. The book is fast-paced and is a relatively short and easy read.

Spoiler Alert. The book has two storylines about two separate rackets, which accidentally interacted with each other. The first case involves Jones and Johnson being sent to investigate a hit-and-run and vehicular homicide case. The second case, also to be solved by Jones and Johnson, involves a powerful and well-connected black politician who got robbed of $50,000 of campaign financing in a daring heist in Harlem.

In the first case (a fake hit-and-run racket), Mrs Leila Holmes (wife of rich black politician Casper Holmes) disguised herself as a man and called herself Mister Baron. Baron (aka Leila) got her accomplice Herman Rose who works at a Cadillac dealership to “borrow” an expensive Cadillac from the lot for a night. She then sold the new Cadillac for $6500 to a gullible sailor called Roman Hill who just arrived in New York. Baron then took Hill and Hill’s new girlfriend Sassafras Jenkins out on a spin in Hill’s new car. Baron arranged with her cousin Junior Ball and have Ball dress up as an old woman and fake a hit-and-run. After Hill hit Ball and Hill thought he had killed him, the plan was to have Baron convince Hill that now that he has killed somebody, Hill should escape New York by jumping on the first ship that leaves New York and Baron will get rid of the murder car for Hill. That way, Baron and her accomplices will pocket $6500 profit for a night’s work.

Unfortunately for them, their plan crossed path with a trio of cold-blooded killers. A few days ago, the national political committee which supports Casper Holmes’s political campaign told Casper they will deliver $50,000 political contribution to him. Casper decided to set up a caper by arranging for his own fake robbery. He hired three gunmen from Indianapolis to rob him on a public street in Harlem the night he receives the cash. The three gunmen, on their way to the robbery, saw Baron’s fake hit-and-run. They took advantage of the situation, and actually run Ball (the fake hit-and-run victim) down and killed Ball. They, who are already dressed up as fake cops, then arrested Hill, Baron and Sassafras, stole the Cadillac, and transferred the victims to the killer’s own car, a Buick. The killers then went to rob Casper as planned. Casper, however, double-crossed the gunmen. He hid the $50,000 and use newspapers to fill up the briefcase to make it look full. Subsequently, the gunmen discovered they had been tricked and they hunted down Casper. In the end, Jones and Johnson figured out what had happened and saved Casper. Jones and Johnson were also smart enough to discover where Casper hid the money. They stole it from Casper and donated them to charity.

The book has a lot of interesting ideas and sub-plots. There are also quite a few cross-dressers. Mrs. Leila Holmes dressed up as Mister Baron is only one of the examples. There was also an interesting and graphic scene where a man running away from Jones and Johnson on a motorbike literally lost his head when some metal plate from a truck he was following flew loose. Another interesting plot is how Casper Holmes almost succeeded in escaping from the hospital unnoticed by disguising himself as a dead body to be collected by a funeral home in a hearse.