cover image Blood Red Blues

Blood Red Blues

Teddy Hayes. Justin, Charles and Company, $12.99 (192pp) ISBN 978-1-932112-21-4

Teddy Hayes dives into the legendary history of Harlem, often recalling the brilliant crime novels of Chester Himes, in his fast-paced noir debut, Blood Red Blues: A Devil Barnett Detective Novel. Barnett, a former wet-ops hit man for the CIA, returns to Harlem to ease back and run the Be-Bop Tavern after his father's death, but trouble keeps knocking at his door, starting with a massacre at a sex-and-drugs party whose victims include a Japanese diplomat. Nice touches of humor leaven the up-to-the-moment action.