"Originally serialized in McGirt's Magazine between 1907 and 1909, The Black Sleuth is one of the earliest African American fictional works to depict a black detective. Now published for the first time in book form, this fascinating yet idiosyncratic mystery centers on its West African protagonist, Sadipe Okukenu. The tale follows his student years, his successful career as a brilliant sleuth in England and on the continent, and his investigation of the theft of a large, flawless diamond.".

"But The Black Sleuth is much more than a detective story. John Edward Bruce employs conventions from popular fiction and an extended "African-abroad" plot to boldly attack and ridicule white prejudice and racial injustice in the United States and elsewhere. His narrative not only counters the dominant Eurocentric view of the world with a Black Atlantic perspective, but also educates his black readers about Africa, Western imperialism, and, perhaps most important, themselves."--BOOK JACKET.