Happy birthday Gary Phillips! Born August 24, Gary Phillips is an African American writer, editor, and community activist whose 1994 novel Violent Spring is considered a classic work of crime fiction and one of the essential crime novels about Los Angeles. His notable books are:
Happy birthday Kyra Davis Lurie! Born August 23, Kyra Davis Lurie is a New York Times bestselling African American author and screenwriter. She is the author of The Great Mann, So Much For My Happy Ending, the Sophie Katz mystery series, the Just One Night series and the Pure Sin series. Her books have been published in nine languages across 6 continents. Her first historical fiction novel, The Great Mann, is a literary interpretation of the Great Gatsby.
Belated heavenly birthday Rudolph Fisher! Born May 9, Rudolph Fisher was an African American physician, radiologist, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, musician, and orator. He was known for his novel, The Conjure Man Dies, the very first detective novel written by an African-American, set in 1930s New York with only Black characters.
Grace F. Edwards, born January 3 in Harlem was a novelist and mystery writer.
Her novel: In the Shadow of the Peacock
She also was the author of the Mali Anderson mystery series: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/7826/grace-f-edwards
These two books are some classic reads.
Book 1: Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction From the African Diaspora edited by Sheree R. Thomas
Book 2: Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes Black Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction of the 20th Century edited by Paula L. Woods. Great selection of stories and novellas.
The CamaraIfe Maktaba 