A great writer James Baldwin Part vision part satire part farce ... a wholly original unholy cross between the craft of fiction and witchcraft The New York Times A plague is spreading across 1920s America racing from New Orleans to New York. Its an epidemic of free expression carried by black artists and its symptoms are an uncontrollable urge to dance sing laugh and jive. The state will stop at nothing to suppress the outbreak but deep in the heart of Harlem private eye and Vodum priest Papa LaBas has other ideas and possibly the key to everything. A freewheeling explosive blend of jazz ragtime ancient myth magic and conspiracy thriller this anarchic postmodern classic is a satire for our times