KING OF HARLEM
1936. 20-year-old Orson Welles is making his American theatrical debut directing an all-Negro MACBETH for the WPA Federal Theatre Project’s Harlem Unit at the Lafayette Theatre. At the same time Welles’ bodyguard, Sassafras Winters, is making his detective debut solving the murder of a Manhattan socialite by one of Welles’ actors.
Sas (that’s what his friends call him) is retired Chicago Cubs pitcher trying to start anew as a private eye. He is hired to protect Welles after the director begins receiving death threats from Communist protesters convinced the "white boy" wants to embarrass the Negro race with a minstrel show MACBETH. Not true, but, to be fair, it is a weird production, transplanted to Haiti during the reign of Henri Christophe. Welles, a stickler for authenticity, has gone so far as to hire a witch doctor, Abdul, to play one of the Three Witches, and allowed Abdul to sacrifice goats on the Lafayette’s stage to make skins for MACBETH’S voodoo drums.
It does help that tensions were already running high in Harlem because of the Depression. In the past nine months the borough has been rocked by three terrible riots, and another riot may be in the brewing after Ben Kanter, Welles’ Porter, is arrested for the apparent murder of Norton Denbrough, a white banker seen stepping out with Kanter’s girlfriend, Rose Ramsey. "Apparent" because Denbrough has disappeared but there is no body. It appears Kanter, discovered disposing of some bloody clothes belongs to Denbrough down a manhole in the alley behind Ramsey’s brownstone during a violent thunderstorm, may have killed Denbrough and dumped the body down the sewer.
"If this isn’t resolved soon Harlem’s going to blow up again and people are going to get hurt," Welles predicts to Sas before insisting that Winters split his duties and investigate the murder. Kanter swears he didn’t kill Denbrough, but refuses to tell the police or Sas what he was doing in the alley. Sas tries to pump some information out of André De shields, a private investigator hired by Denbrough’s widowed mother, Miss Claudette of Gramercy Park West, to confirm rumors her son was dating a Negro. "He was," De Shields tells Sas over beers, "and he was fired form his bank job in Manhattan because he refused to stop seeing Ramsey. Ever since then Denbrough’s been living with Ramsey while working odd jobs to try and keep his family in berries until his sister, Beatrice, marries some high-hat named Joyce Dell-Armstrong this June. But I guess Kanter didn’t like being cuckold and threw a monkey-wrench into that scheme."
Sas’ investigate brings him into contact with historical figure like Jack Carter (Welles’ MacBeth, the mulatto son of a French nobleman, the original Crown in PORGY, and a violent alcoholic popular with local gangsters), Edna Thompson (the grand dame of Harlem theatre and a European countess’ lover), Father Divine (a 60-year-old Negro and new England’s most popular evangelist who claims to be the second coming of Jesus), John Houseman (Welles’ producer), and members of Harlem’s famous niggerati, including Langston Hughes and Zora Huston. Interesting characters, but maybe none as intriguing as Sas’ part-time valet and sidekick, Chinaman. An Edward Everett Horton type who adopted Sas during Winters’ baseball days, Chinaman refuses to be paid for his valet services, comes and goes as he pleases (usually at the most inappropriate times), and seems to know everything and been everywhere.
The Harlem Communists use the Denbrough mystery to increase their protests against MACBETH, and Welles’ dire prediction almost comes true when Sas barely manages to rescue Orson form a protester who tries to slash Welles’ face in the Lafayette’s lobby. That same night Denbrough turns up alive and well in Gramercy Park West, claiming to have basically broke from the pressure of losing his job and ran away from home. When Ben Kanter is cleared of all charges the next day it appears things may finally be going the Harlem Unit’s way, until Kanter celebrates later that night by shooting André De Shields to death in a Harlem hotel and vanishing.
Why did Kanter kill De Shields? Did Kanter know that Denbrough, "the other man," was alive, and, if so, why didn’t he say so and keep himself out of jail? And where is Kanter now? These are just some of the questions Sas needs to answer before another attempt is made on Welles’ life or the Communists’ protests ignite a fourth riot in Harlem, this one perhaps the worst of all.
Brief Description: 20-year-old Orson Welles is making his American theatrical debut directing an all-Negro MACBETH for the WPA Federal Theatre Project’s Harlem Unit at the Lafayette Theatre. At the same time Welles’ bodyguard, Sassafras Winters, is making his detective debut solving the murder of a Manhattan socialite by one of Welles’ actors.
Key Elements: Mystery, hard-boiled detective, Harlem, 1930s, baseball. This story takes place during one of the great moments in the history of Harlem theatre.
Association: Obvious comparisons could be made to the best-selling Toby Peters and Nate Heller mysteries, where a detective solves mysteries involving famous historical personalities, usually but not always from the world of entertainment. Unlike these series, however, KING OF HARLEM not only involves famous personalities, it explores a fascinating but little-known event set against one of America’s most colorful locales during a popular and nostalgic era, Harlem in the 1930s.
Format: Novel and currently presented as an e-book online. Has potential as a movie, either made for TV/Cable or theatrical.
Additional: Could serve as a springboard for future mysteries starring Sas and Chinaman.
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