Like Robert Parker’s Spencer, Steven Philip Jones has created a private investigator that readers will immediately bond with. Jones lets his main character, Sassafras Winters, run the show, full of wit and revelation. The fact King of Harlem takes place in the 1930s only makes the novel that much more appealing.

A retired major-league ball pitcher, Sassafras Winters now runs his own private investigator agency. It is when his old friend, Canada, calls that things get intriguing. It is deep in the heart of the depression and Orson Welles is about to debut as director of the Shakespearean classic Macbeth. What makes this version of Macbeth different is the fact that it will show at the Lafayette in Harlem for the WPA with an all-Negro cast. The Negroes living in Harlem do not trust Welles and feel certain he is going to mock African Americans on the stage. Welles desires a bodyguard for protection.

When one of the play’s star performers is arrested for the strange disappearance of a man believed to be part of a unique lovers’ triangle, Welles asks Winters to get to the bottom of things. One missing person soon leads to the murder of another and everyone has Winters going around in circles looking for answers, all the while trying to protect Welles from the ornery crowd picketing outside the Lafayette.

With a clever cast of three-dimensional characters, Steven Philip Jones has done more than write a wonderful whodunit. He has managed to successfully mix fact with fiction in highly entertaining fashion. I hope to see more of Sassafras Winters in the future.

Curse of Wrigley Field / Background on Novel / Excerpt /
How to Order / Press Kit / About the Writer / Home