A 1974 New York Times Notable Book and 1975 Edgar Award Nominee BEFORE
THERE WAS STREET LIT, THERE WERE THE STREETS ... AND THE JONES MEN RULED
THEM "It was The Wire before there was The Wire." - Gar Anthony Haywood
DETROIT, 1974 To become the King, you have to take the crown. It won't
be given up lightly. Heroin kingpin, Willis McDaniel, has been wearing
that particular piece of jewelry for far too long, and youngblood,
Lennie Jack, thinks it would look really good on his head. When a junkie
tells Jack about a big delivery, the young Vietnam vet makes his move.
Feeling his empire crumble, McDaniel puts the word out to find whoever's
responsible. The hunt is on, the battle is engaged, and the streets of
Detroit run red with blood. In 1974 Vern E. Smith took the crime fiction
world by storm with his debut novel, The Jones Men. Heralded as "a large
accomplishment in the art of fiction" by the New York Times, The Jones
Men went on to be nominated for an Edgar Award and became a New York
Times Notable Book. The art of crime fiction has never been the same
since. Vern E. Smith The Jones Men was Vern E. Smith's first and last
published novel. He currently resides in Atlanta.