In
Thomas Mullen’s novel DARKTOWN, the
murder of a young black woman exposes a secret that goes all the way to the
highest levels of Atlanta’s white society.
In
post-war Atlanta, LUCIUS BOGGS and TOMMY SMITH are cops. But they’re also black
and “Negro policemen” don’t get a lot of respect from either civilians or white
cops. Their authority is limited, and whites know flout that limited authority wheneve
they feel like it. As when a white man drunkenly plows into a street lamp with
a bruised black woman in the passenger
seat and repeatedly ignores Lucius’ polite requests to hand over his license.
Instead, he simply denies hitting the light pole and rives away … slowly.
The
ongoing information about the black police force and how it was formed and
where it is located is dripped into the story as needed (sometimes a bit
clumsily) along with information on the racial politics of the time and place.
Real-life people are mentioned (including Rev. Martin Luther King SENIOR) and
there’s a real feeling of verisimilitude to the story.
