Black flim-flam man Deke O'Hara is no sooner out of Atlanta's state
penitentiary than he's back on the streets, working the scam of a
lifetime. As sponsor of the Back-to-Africa movement, he's counting on
the big Harlem rally to produce a big collection - for his own private
charity. But the take ($87,000) is hijacked by white gunmen and hidden
in a bale of cotton that suddenly everyone wants to get his hands on.
With Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones on everyone's trail and
piecing together the complexity of the scheme, Cotton Comes to Harlem
(made into a film in 1970) is one of Himes's hardest-hitting and most
entertaining thrillers.