The mitt man : a novel / Mel Taylor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taylor, Mel, 1939-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crime.

African Americans.

History.

Louisiana--New Orleans.

African Americans--Louisiana--New Orleans--History--20th century--Fiction.

Crime--Louisiana--New Orleans--Fiction.

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Fiction.

Physical Description:

372 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W. Morrow, [1999]

Summary:

Expertly evoking black life in the South in the late 1920s, The Mitt Man begins with the picaresque tale of a small-time New Orleans hustler named King Fish. This man is better at preaching than picking pockets, and it is getting caught while trying to lift the wallet of a wealthy white man that sets him on the path to his destiny--a complex road that leads him from the pavement to the pulpit and, ultimately, to the penitentiary. Once in jail, King Fish meets a brash young slickster from New York named Jimmie Lamar. King Fish decides that Jimmie is the perfect pupil for his lessons in the art of the con game--and together they devise a brilliant swindle for Jimmie to take to the streets of Harlem. But when he arrives in New York, young Jimmie gets much more than he bargained for. . . .

Set in the world of gospel choirs and chain gangs, echoing with the cadences of Elmer Gantry and Father Divine, this book explores the dodgy realm where grifters get religion, reverends get rich, and a perfect scam might just pay off in salvation.

ISBN:

0688160948

OCLC:

39679255