Detective media has never lost its shine and for good reason: Who doesn’t want to see a mystery solved? American writer and winner of French crime lit award Grand Prix de Littérature Policière Chester B. Himes sits among the genre’s most accomplished, and this month Austin Public Library asks readers to delve into the second of his Harlem Detective series. The series follows Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson, Black detectives whose brutal methods hit only those who deserve the law’s heavy fist – at least according to their creator, who survived a stint in prison himself through writing. Get ready to discuss marijuana, bar-fight stabbings, and street gangs for this brewery-based book club pick, and snag a kolache if Batch Craft’s still got ’em after breakfast. – James Scott
