Edgar Award Best Novel Winner
Room to Swing
by Ed Lacy
Summary
Black private investigator Toussaint Marcus Moore takes a routine surveillance job that collapses when his target turns up murdered and he becomes the prime suspect. Ed Lacy follows Moore as he flees New York for Ohio to clear his name, confronting racism at every turn in a society that gives him little room to move. The book mixes a tense manhunt with a frank look at race in mid century America.
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Historical Context & Significance
It featured one of the first Black private detectives in American crime fiction, written by Leonard Zinberg under the pen name Ed Lacy.