A classic thriller from the Harlem Detective series, where love, jealousy and many-peopled mayhem aboundBig Joe Pullen is dead and his wake is getting boozy. When the opium-addicted Reverend Short falls out of a window trying to see a thief fleeing the robbed store opposite, his life is saved when he lands in a bread basket, cushioned by the corpse of Valentine Haines. It’s up to detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson to find out who stabbed Valentine – though no one at the wake is keen to say much to the police.

Shot through with dry, dark humour, this is Chester Himes at his hardboiled noir best.