Return to the main BookGuide page
Connect to the main Lincoln City Libraries Web site!
The Black Detective logo
This list includes mystery fiction that features some kind of African-American sleuth without regard to time period, sex or sexual orientation, or their career status as a professional or amateur sleuth, etc. Please note -- this is a booklist featuring sleuths who are African-American. Not all of the writers are necessarily of African-American heritage themselves!

All books in this list which are owned by Lincoln City Libraries are hotlinked to their entries in our library catalog, so that you may check on their current availability. Some titles not owned by the libraries are included in this list due to their classic nature, or their position as part of a series. If you see a title on this list that is not hotlinked to our collection, please consider ordering it through our Interlibrary Loan department.

Sterling AnthonyLt. Mary Cunningham
-- Cookie Cutter [1999]
Nikki BakerVirginia Kelly
-- In the Game [1991]
-- Long Goodbyes [1993]
John Dudley BallVirgil Tibbs
-- In the Heat of the Night [1965]
-- The Cool Cottontail [1966]
-- Johnny Get Your Gun [1969]
-- Five Pieces of Jade [1972]
-- The Eyes of Buddha [1976]
-- The Killing in the Market [1978]
-- Then Came Violence [1980]
-- Singapore [1986]
George BaxtPharoah Love
-- A Queer Kind of Death [1966]
-- Swing Low, Sweet Harriet [1967]
-- Topsy and Evil [1968]
-- A Queer Kind of Love [1979]
-- A Queer Kind of Umbrella [1995]
Eleanor Taylor BlandMarti "Big Mac" MacAlister
-- Dead Time [1992]
-- Slow Burn [1993]
-- Gone Quiet [1994]
-- Done Wrong [1995]
-- Keep Still [1996]
-- See No Evil [1998]
-- Tell No Tales [1999]
-- Scream in Silence [2000]
-- Whispers in the Dark [2001]
-- Windy City Dying [2002]
-- Fatal Remains [2003]
-- A Cold and Silent Dying [2004]
-- A Dark and Deadly Deception [2005]
Jay BrandonRules of Evidence [1992]
Charlotte CarterRhode Island Red [1997]
Coq au Vin [1999]
Drumsticks [2000]
Jackson Park [2003]
Trip Wire [2005]
Christopher ChambersSympathy for the Devil [2001]
A Prayer for Deliverance [2003]
Christopher Darden and Dick LochteTrials of Nikki Hill [1999]
L.A. Justice [2003]
Nora DeloachThe "Mama" series
-- Mama Stalks the Past [1997]
-- Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle [1998]
-- Mama Pursues Murderous Shadows [2000]
-- Mama Cracks a Mask of Innocence [2001]
Grace EdwardsMali Anderson
-- If I Should Die [1997]
-- A Toast Before Dying [1998]
-- No Time to Die [1999]
-- Do or Die [2000]
-- The Viaduct [2004]
Louis EdwardsAimee DuBois
-- N: A Romantic Mystery [1997]
Ardella GarlandGeorgia Barnett
-- Details at Ten [2000]
-- Hit Time [2002]
Robert O. GreerC.J. Floyd
-- The Devil's Hatband [1996]
-- The Devil's Red Nickel [1997]
-- The Devil's Backbone [1998]
-- Limited Time [2000]
-- Resurrecting Langston Blue [2005]
Barbara HamblyBenjamin January
-- A Free Man of Color [1997]
-- Fever Season [1998]
-- Graveyard Dust [1999]
-- Sold Down the River [2000]
-- Die Upon a Kiss [2001]
-- Wet Grave [2002]
-- Days of the Dead [2003]
-- Dead Water [2004]
-- Emancipator's Wife [2005] (not a Benjamin January novel!)
Gary HardwickCold Medina [1996]
Double Dead [1997]
Supreme Justice [1999]
Color of Justice [2000]
Chester HimesGrave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson
-- The Crazy Kill [1959]
-- The Real Cool Killers [1959]
-- All Shot Up [1960]
-- The Big Gold Dream [1960]
-- Cotton Comes to Harlem [1965]
-- The Heat's On [1966]
-- Blind Man With a Pistol [1969]
Hugh HoltonLarry Cole
-- Presumed Dead [1994]
-- Windy City [1995]
-- Chicago Blues [1996]
-- Violent Crimes [1997]
-- Red Lightning [1998]
-- Left Hand of God [1999]
-- Time of the Assassins [2000]
-- The Devil's Shadow [2001]
Norman KelleyNina Halligan
-- Big Mango [2000]
-- The Black Heat [2001]
-- A Phat Death [2003]
Jake LamarClay Robinette
-- If 6 Were 9 [2001]
-- Rendezvous Eighteenth [2003]
Glenville LovellBlade Overstreet
-- Too Beautiful to Die [2003]
-- Love and Death in Brooklyn [2004]
Ann McMillanJudah Daniel
-- Dead March [1998]
-- Angel Trumpet [1999]
-- Civil Blood [2001]
-- Chickahominy Fever [2004]
Penny MickelburyMimi Patterson
-- One Must Wait [1998]
-- Where to Choose [1999]
-- The Step Between [2000]
-- Paradise Interrupted [2001]
Walter MosleyEasy Rawlins
-- Devil in a Blue Dress [1990]
-- A Red Death [1991]
-- White Butterfly [1992]
-- Black Betty [1994]
-- A Little Yellow Dog [1996]
-- Gone Fishin' [1997]
-- Fearless Jones [2001]
-- Bad Boy Brawly Brown [2002]
-- Fear Itself [2003]
-- Little Scarlet [2004]
Cinnamon Kiss [2005]
Blonde Faith [2008]
Barbara NeelyBlanche White
-- Blanche on the Lam [1992]
-- Blanche Among the Talented Tenth [1994]
-- Blanche Cleans Up [1998]
-- Blanche Passes Go [2000]
P.J. ParrishLouis Kincaid
-- Dark of the Moon [1999]
-- Dead of Winter [2001]
-- Island of Bones [2004]
-- Thicker Than Water [2003]
-- Killing Rain [2005]
-- Unquiet Grave [2006]
A Thousand Bones [2007]
Gary PhillipsIvan Monk
-- Perdition U.S.A. [1995]
-- Bad Night is Falling [1998]
-- High Hand [2000]
-- Only the Wicked [2000]
-- Shooter's Point [2001]
-- Monkology [2004]
Mike PhillipsSam Dean
-- Blood Rights [1989]
-- The Late Candidate [1989]
-- Point of Darkness [1994]
-- An Image to Die For [1995]
Ishmael ReedPapa LaBas
-- Mumbo Jumbo [1972]
-- The Last Days of Louisiana Red [1974]
James SallisLew Griffin
-- The Long-Legged Fly [1992]
-- Moth [1993]
-- Black Hornet [1994]
-- Eye of the Cricket [1997]
-- Bluebottle [1999]
-- Ghost of a Flea [2001]
Robert SkinnerWesley Farrell
-- Skin Deep, Blood Red [1997]
-- Cat-Eyed Trouble [1999]
-- Pale Shadow [2001]
Ian SmithSterling Bledsoe
-- The Blackbird Papers [2004]
Pamela Thomas-GrahamNikki Chase
-- A Darker Shade of Crimson [1998]
-- Blue Blood [1999]
-- Orange Crushed [2004]
Ernest TidymanShaft
-- Shaft [1970]
-- Shaft Among the Jews [1972]
Nichelle D. TrambleThe Dying Ground [2001]
Blair S. WalkerDaryl Billups
-- Up Jumped the Devil [1997]
-- Hidden in Plain View [1999]
-- Don't Believe Your Lying Eyes [2002]
Valerie Wilson WesleyTamara Hayle
-- When Death Comes Stealing [1994]
-- Devil's Gonna Get Him [1995]
-- Where Evil Sleeps [1996]
-- No Hiding Place [1997]
-- Easier to Kill [1998]
-- The Devil Riding [2000]
-- Dying in the Dark [2004]
-- Of Blood and Sorrow [2008]
Paula L. WoodsCharlotte Justice
-- Inner City Blues [1999]
-- Stormy Weather [2001]
-- Dirty Laundry [2003]

Compiled August 2006 rs
Adapted and expanded for the Web August 2006 sdc

Looking for additional novels on this or other subjects? Try out the NoveList database!