The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem

Rudolph Fisher’s novel The Conjure-Man Dies was published in 1932. The book is a detective novel that follows Harlem police detective Perry Dart’s investigation into the murder of a fortune teller named N’Gana Frimbo. As he investigates the murder with the help of a physician and a private detective, they realize that the crime is far more complicated than it seems. The novel tackles themes such as Science and Rationality Versus Mysticism and Superstition, The Concealment of One’s Self and Intentions, and Jealousy as a Motive to Commit Murder.

The Conjure-Man Dies was the second novel Fisher wrote, following The Walls of Jericho in 1928. It was long considered the first detective novel written by a Black American author, and it stands out for its Black detective and cast of exclusively Black characters.

This study guide uses the 2021 Collins Crime Club edition of the novel.

Content Warning: This study guide discusses drug and alcohol addictions, as well as domestic violence. The novel features portrayals of racial prejudice and discrimination. The novel also contains dialect commonly used in 1930s Harlem that may be considered stereotypical, insensitive, and/or offensive.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with Bubber Brown rushing from fortune teller N’Gana Frimbo’s house to Dr. John Archer’s house. He tells Dr. Archer that something happened to Frimbo, and they go to his house together. They meet Bubber’s friend Jinx Jenkins there, and he helps them carry Frimbo downstairs to Samuel Crouch's funeral parlor. Dr. Archer sees that Frimbo is dead, and Bubber and Jinx call the police.

Harlem police detective Perry Dart arrives to investigate the scene. He talks to the three men and learns that Bubber and Jinx were there to discuss their business with Frimbo. Dr. Archer tells Dart about the head injury he found, and seeing that Frimbo’s mouth is open, he uses tools to pull out a handkerchief. There is also an African club at the scene. Dr. Archer and Dart investigate the house and find nothing noteworthy until they reach the study. They find books on determinism—a philosophy theorizing that all events are predetermined and people cannot affect their circumstances—and a plaque showing that Frimbo had graduated from Harvard. They soon find his laboratory, where they see a jar containing human testicles. Later, they find a black ribbon, another club, and a tooth bridge.

Detective Dart then focuses on finding and gathering all potential suspects, including the two men, Martha Crouch—the wife of undertaker Samuel Crouch—and Amarintha Snead. One by one, he interrogates them. He also interrogates Samuel Crouch but soon lets him go due to lack of evidence. He has Bubber find three other suspects—Spider Webb, a gambler; Doty Hicks, who has a drug addiction; and railroader Easley Jones—who were no longer in the building when Bubber and Jinx found the body. Bubber and the accompanying police officer gather Spider, Doty, and Easley, and Dart interrogates each of them. Spider and Easley are cleared of suspicion, but Doty confesses to trying to murder Frimbo for supposedly placing a curse on his brother and says that he had an accomplice. After the interrogations, Dart gets Tynes to take each of the suspects’ fingerprints to compare them to those on the club. Jinx’s fingerprints are on the club, and his handkerchief is in Frimbo’s throat, so Dart arrests him along with Doty for his confession.

Soon after, the medical examiner Dr. Winkler arrives at the house. He reveals that the body downstairs shows no signs of violence and is in fact that of a woman. This shocks Dart and Dr. Archer, and Dart and his men search the house for Frimbo’s body. Meanwhile, Amarintha Snead prays over Jinx amidst his arrest. When Dart and Dr. Archer return to the chamber, Dart asks Bubber if he is friends with Jinx; Bubber downplays their friendship, which hurts Jinx. Dart then lets all the suspects go except Jinx and Doty. Before they can leave, however, the lights go out. Jinx tries to run away, but one of Dart’s men catches him. Everyone then hears a voice directing them to the switch box. Once they turn the lights back on, they see Frimbo alive. This shocks everyone, especially Bubber and Martha. Dart asks Frimbo who attacked him, but he says that he does not know. Frimbo then says that he will search his mind and meet Dart and all of the suspects on Monday with the truth about his killer.

The next morning, Bubber witnesses a murder and remembers an omen he saw—a shadow of a skull on the moon, a “moon sign” that condemns the viewer to witnessing three deaths. He visits Jinx at the jail, who is still hurt by Bubber’s denial of their friendship. Bubber explains that he had to protect himself so he could investigate the murder and help free Jinx. He then leaves, determined to find evidence that Frimbo’s assistant tried to kill him. Dart visits Dr. Archer, who reveals that the corpse and Frimbo have different blood samples and are not the same person. Dr. Archer also hypothesizes that Frimbo has paranoia and says he will visit Frimbo later to learn more. Dart warns him that Frimbo might try to kill him, but Dr. Archer reassures him that he will be fine.

When Dr. Archer visits Frimbo, they bond over science and psychology. Frimbo asserts that mysticism and science are not contradictory, and everything involving pure faith is mysticism. He also reveals that he is a king of a territory called Buwongo and recalls a large feast and dangerous procreation ritual he witnessed as a child. He also explains his ideas about determinism—that all events are predetermined and people cannot control their circumstances. Dr. Archer is amazed by this and finds him to be a fascinating and brilliant man.

After leaving the jail, Bubber gambles at the pool room where Spider Webb works and wins. Already angry that Bubber took him to Frimbo’s house as a suspect, Spider sends a man named Tiger Shade after him. Tiger Shade follows Bubber, but Bubber manages to distract him and run to Dr. Archer’s house. There, he encounters the husband in Bubber’s private detective case that went awry. When Tiger catches up to Bubber, Bubber accuses the husband of taking his money and runs into Frimbo’s house. The husband tells Tiger the truth, and the two go after Bubber. He, however, scares them away by pretending to be a corpse rising from the dead. He then goes to the cellar to hide and sees Frimbo burn the corpse in the furnace. He tells Dr. Archer about this.

The following day, Dr. Archer concludes that the tooth bridge belongs to the corpse. Dart visits dentist Dr. Chisholm “Chizzy” Dell, who tells him about dental mechanics familiar with deckalite, the bridge’s material. Meanwhile, Dr. Archer visits Frimbo again and takes another blood sample. Frimbo explains that the difference in serum affects his red blood cells, causing them to clump, but the two samples were from the same person. He also mentions his ability to control his past through a ritual involving the testicles in the jar. Later, Dart tells Dr. Archer that the bridge belonged to Frimbo’s assistant.

Bubber soon appears and Dr. Archer reveals that Jinx might not have killed the assistant. He explains and demonstrates the use of powder to copy a thumbprint, then reveals that the odd placement of Jinx’s thumbprint confirms that he could not have used the club. They all meet with Frimbo and the suspects at Frimbo’s house. Frimbo calls Jinx first and reveals that Jinx did not attack him. Dart then interrupts Frimbo and puts him under arrest due to the evidence that he killed his assistant, but Frimbo says that he burned his assistant’s body as part of a Buwongo tradition to cleanse his body after being killed by an outsider. He then states that his assistant, N’Ogo, was taken in by him and was completely loyal to him. They switched roles before his death to protect Frimbo as the king of Buwongo. After N’Ogo’s death, Frimbo faked his death and resurrection to assist in the investigation.

Someone then turns off the lights and shoots Frimbo. When Dart and Dr. Archer get the lights back on, they learn the shooter is Easley Jones. Dr. Archer tries to tend to Frimbo, but he dies. Grief-stricken, Martha Crouch reveals she was in love with Frimbo and attacks Easley Jones, accidentally revealing him to be her husband, Samuel Crouch, in disguise. Sometime later, after Jinx’s release, he and Bubber walk along Seventh Avenue. Bubber explains Samuel Crouch’s disguise, the trick with Jinx’s thumbprint, and stealing his handkerchief to try to get away with Frimbo’s murder. Jinx wonders if Mr. Crouch was after him, but Bubber tells him he would have just as likely targeted someone else. The novel ends with them continuing their walk.