Published in 1928, this first novel from Rudolph Fisher is a sly and witty social satire that is surprisingly contemporary in its portrait of race relations, not only between blacks and whites, but also within Depression era Harlem's black community. The nucleus of the rather fluid plot is Fred Merritt, a black lawyer who purchases a home in a white neighborhood that borders on Harlem, but the tale is less about Merrit than it is about those who are affected by his decision: the vengeful Patmore, proprietor of the local pool hall; the piano mover, Shine and his assistant movers, Jinx and Bubber (Fisher's recurrent characters,) the ambitious maid, Linda and her bigoted employer, Miss Cramp.
A recovered gem of the Harlem Renaissance, HarperCollins is to be congratulated for retuning "The Walls of Jericho", and Fisher's detective novel, "The Conjure Man Dies" to print. There is the obligatory caution about language and stereotypes that may be offensive by contemporary standards and a glossary of "Harlemese", the Harlem slang of the 1920s.
The volume includes the comic short story, "One Month's Wages" that brings back Jinx and Bubber in their intersecting strategies to earn their rent.
Fisher, a physician, poet, dramatist and musician had published several short stories and had planned, at the time of his death at age 37, to publish two more detective novels featuring characters from "The Conjure Man Dies."
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