Harlem Shuffle is a cracking read. It more than makes up for any disappointment I felt on finishing The Underground Railroad (see below). Ray Carney and his cousin Freddie are like brothers growing up in postwar Harlem. Freddie's father Pedro has slunk off to Florida. Ray's mother has died and his old man is back. Old Carney is a crook and a heavy. Ray puts himself through college to avoid following his father's trade. He opens a furniture store, initially selling previously loved items, then adding a few new bits. He marries above his station, the beautiful Elizabeth, who has a big future in travel agenting for black folks. Ray dreams of getting ahead of the game. An upmarket property, on Riverside Drive, maybe.
Then cousin Freddie rolls around and gets him involved in a heist at Harlem's top hotel. It's Ray's job to fence the proceeds, which brings him in contact with serious local hoods, bent cops. All in all it adds up to five years of stress. Still, Ray is a worker, and an employer now. He makes a good side income as a fence. His furniture store expands. But he can't get accepted into the local trade club for black entrepreneurs. Maybe he's just too black. And then there's Freddie... So Ray comes up with a scheme of his own - to get revenge on the black guy who took his money and failed to deliver.
Finally, Freddie goes too far. He's smoking dope and copping a snort or two of the good stuff with a white dude called Linus van Wyke. The van Wyke's are old New York. An ancestor was the first mayor. Now, in the early 1960s, they're building skyscrapers next to where the World Trade Centre is due to be built. Linus ODs. Freddie brings a fancy briefcase for Ray to keep in his safe at the store. It's Linus's briefcase, not stolen goods in itself. What can possibly go wrong.
Beautifully written, note-perfect, with a fantastic pace and superb characters. It won't win as many prizes as The Underground Railway or The Nickel Boys. Not because it's too black. Because it's too damn funny.
