Harlem Shuffle offers a loving look at Harlem between 1959 and 1964. Ray Carney is the son of a crook and he decides he wants to be nothing like his Dad. He goes to college and wants to buy a furniture store. His seed money ends up being his father’s dirty money found after his death and that shaky start to respectability foreshadows how Ray’s life will proceed. While maintaining the veneer of a up and coming businessman, he becomes embroiled in his cousin Freddie’s heists as a fence and his life becomes entangled with Harlem’s criminal underworld. As always Whitehead’s writing is brilliant. The historical picture of Harlem is fascinating. The characters are all flawed but like able- even Pepper a hardened criminal who was a friend of Ray’s father has redeeming moments. I see another major award gracing Cookson Whitehead’s shelf with this one!