90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Best known for his hardboiled Harlem Detective series, Chester Himes was also a superb literary writer, beginning his creative life by writing short stories in the 1930s while serving jail time for armed robbery. Selected here are some of his best stories - from a satirical tale about a student bet that purportedly disproves the existence of racism in Los Angeles to a chilling drama in which a snake invades a family home.

Details

ISBN13: 9780241752104
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 160
Edition:
Publication Date: 15 Jul 2025
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 18(H)x11(L)x0.9(W)100
Weight (gm): 100

Author Biography

Chester Himes was born in Missouri in 1909. Aged nineteen he was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to twenty-five years in jail, where he began to write short stories. Upon release, he took a variety of jobs while continuing to write fiction. He later moved to Paris where he wrote the first of his Harlem detective novels, A Rage in Harlem, which won the 1957 Grand prix de litterature polici re. In 1969 Himes moved to Spain, where he died in 1984.

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