Back in April, I expressed my admiration for a new release, “Nonesuch” by Francis Spufford, a charming blend of WWII alternate history and fantasy about a spirited female stock clerk who is trying to spoil the efforts of a secret society that wants to go back in time to change the British government in a way that will see them capitulate to the Nazi threat.
Sometimes you read a book and you just have the sense that this is a lively and inventive mind that you’d like to spend more time with. So I went back to one of Francis Spufford’s previous novels, “Cahokia Jazz,” and my instinct that this is a writer who I’d be happy to read, no matter what he’s up to, has been confirmed.
“Cahokia Jazz” is another work of alternate history, this time blended with classic detective noir. The novel is set in the independent state of Cahokia, roughly centered on what is St. Louis today, in the near aftermath of WWI. The United States is a very different place. The native people of this region were not wiped out by smallpox and instead established an independent kingdom that blends a traditional monarchy with Catholicism, thanks to the efforts of some earlier missionaries.
Cahokia became a state following their choice to join the Union side in the Civil War, but this alternate history has not erased racism and in Cahokia city these native peoples live literally alongside members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Our protagonist is Joe Barrow, a Native American member of the Cahokia Police Department murder police, who is tasked with his partner Phineas Drummond to investigate the murder of a white man that appears staged in mimicry of an ancient Aztec sacrifice that will stir the simmering racial animus in the city.
Barrow and Drummond are compatriots from the war; Barrow appreciates Drummond as the first white man who did not first judge him by the color of his skin, but Drummond is acting weird.
The core mystery is deeply satisfying, with a number of subplots that will keep you guessing in just the ways you want from a good noir. The setting of Cahokia, with the Mississippi River running through the city, fog lifting from the surface to meld with the heat and smoke of early industrialization, is appropriately moody. The way Spufford builds the city’s geography makes this place that never existed alive inside your head.
And at the center is Joe Barrow, a native man who was raised in a group home not in Cahokia, who doesn’t speak the native language, Anopa, and who has been allowing his partner Drummond to call the shots, including the initial choice to take jobs with the Cahokia PD.
Barrow also has what seems to be a higher calling as a talented jazz pianist. The Cahokian monarchy seems to want something from him, gracing him with a calling card from “The Sun,” the leader of the royal family, to aid Barrow in the investigation. Barrow is also brought into the orbit of “The Moon,” The Sun’s niece, a kind of crown princess in waiting and a glamorous society woman.
Will Barrow solve the mystery? Will he be captured by The Moon’s allure? Is his partner, Drummond, telling him the truth? Will the city explode? Will he find a home with the native people of Cahokia and the pretty and determined department secretary Ms. Chokfi?
Or will he get out of town with his musician friends and fulfill his musical destiny?
I’m going to keep making my way through Francis Spufford’s novels.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
2. “Foster” by Claire Keegan
3. “Devil in a Blue Dress” by Walter Mosley
4. “The Godwulf Manuscript” by Robert B. Parker
5. “Life & Times of Michael K” by J.M. Coetzee
— Biff G., Valparaiso, Indiana
Noir seems like it’s called for in this list. In this case, a little country noir, “Tomato Red” by Daniel Woodrell.
More Top Picks Best Crash Cymbals
1. “Broken Country” by Clare Leslie Hall
2. “Northwoods” by Amy Pease
3. “The Ghostwriter” by Julie Clark
4. “Twenty Years Later” by Charlie Donlea
5. “Becoming Madam Secretary” by Stephanie Dray
— Jill S., Northbrook
This is for Jill’s book club, which mostly reads mysteries. I’ve got a great one, “Dream Girl” by Laura Lippman.
1. “Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke
2. “Strangers” by Belle Burden
3. “Theo of Golden” by Allen Levi
4. “Whistler” by Ann Patchett
5. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt
— Dottie P., South Bend, Indiana
No shade, but I’m going to steer Dottie away from these big book club bestseller titles, just for the sake of changing things up: “The End of Vandalism” by Tom Drury.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to [email protected].
John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.