The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher
The book opens on the mysterious death of a “conjure-man,” or fortune-teller, named Frimbo who is found dead one evening in 1930s Harem. Figuring out who killed the man is one thing, but the situation gets stranger. One of his clients may have been speaking to a dead man. Then the body disappears and reappears later. There’s also a room full of prospective clients, now suspects, who have very interesting reasons to want to consult with the “Conjure-Man.” It’s definitely full of superstition and fear of black magic.
Dr. John Archer and a police detective Perry Dart team up to get to the bottom of this curious crime. It’s a beautifully written book that it was easy to get lost in the lushness of the words. The opening itself is pitch perfect:
“Encountering the bright-lighted gaiety of Harlem’s Seventh Avenue, the frigid midwinter night seemed to relent a little. She had given Battery Park a chill stare and she would undoubtedly freeze the Bronze. But here in this mid-realm of rhythm and laughter, she seemed to grow warmer and friendlier, observing, perhaps, that those who dwelt here were mysteriously dark like herself.“
The book kind of feels a bit like a locked room mystery since it’s unclear how the man died while talking to someone or how the killer escaped.
Author Rudolph Fisher (1897-1934) himself is quite fascinating. He had degrees in English and biology from Brown University and a Master’s degree from Brown. Then he got his medical degree at Howard University before moving to New York City. He specialized in radiology and did experiments with the technology.
Fisher also wrote on the side including short stories, essays, and two novels, The Walls of Jericho (1928) and the aforementioned crime novel. Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston were friends/acquaintance of him, and he also composed two songs for bass-baritone singer Paul Robeson.
Sadly, Fisher died quite young in 1934, possibly from radiation poisoning from his own work. Black Past reported that the novel was not quite completed when he died and his colleagues Countee Cullen and Arna Bontemps revised it. In addition to the Conjure-Man Dies novel, there’s a connected short story titled “John Archer’s Nose” that also features the doctor and the police detective. My edition of the book had the short story included.
Rhode Island-based Motif Magazine also reported that The Conjure-Man Dies was made into a play that Orson Welles helped bring to the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, thanks to the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration in 1936.
Motif also reported about Fisher’s death:
“Zora Neale Hurston transmitted a message by telegram to Fisher’s wife [Jane]: ‘The world has lost a genius. You have lost a husband and I have lost a friend.’ Langston Hughes later wrote, ‘I guess Fisher was too brilliant and too talented to stay long on this earth.'”
It’s hard not to think what Fisher could have done if he had not died such an early death. But it’s great to see that the book has been republished by the Library of Congress’s Crime Classics in 2022. The book has also made its way overseas – I found out about the book thanks to a bookseller at London-based bookstore, Hatchards, who recommended it to me.
For folks who want to learn more, check out this post about the lesser-known Harlem Renaissance or this article on Black crime writers.
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English (US) · 