I've never read a Coffin Johnson and Grave Digger Jones story before (don't you just love those names?), so this was not at all what I expected. These books are set in Harlem in the sixties, and Jones and Johnson are black policemen whose turf is the colourful streets of Harlem. Police work was really different then, and certainly what the cops did to finally get their man would not be allowed today, but this book is earthy and real. You can almost feel the heat wave that is taking over Harlem while dead bodies keep piling up around Jones and Johnson. Definitely not for the squeemish or faint of heart this one.