The Big Gold Dream — Chester Himes

In this page-turning installment of the classic Harlem Detectives series, a woman dies at a con man's religious street revival, and her massive, secret pile of cash vanishes

The charismatic con man Sweet Prophet is delivering an electrifying street sermon when Alberta Wright, a true believer who dreams of pies bursting with hundred-dollar bills, drops dead. Her partner rushes home only to find her apartment looted -- and a stash of cash she was trying to keep a secret long gone. But that kind of money can't be kept secret. It isn't in the thief's hands long before he gets knocked off. And then the killer faces lethal competition of his own. As the missing pile of money changes hands, it leaves behind a string of cold-blooded murders that shows no sign of slowing down. Detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones must move fast to stop the killings in this gripping crime thriller from a master of the genre.