The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem

The conflict between scientific and rational thinking and superstition dominates Fisher’s novel. As rational men, Detective Dart and Dr. Archer find the strange and apparently unexplainable findings of Frimbo’s murder case challenging and difficult to believe. Contrarily, characters such as Doty Hicks, Amarintha Snead, and Bubber Brown are open to the possibilities of bad omens and Frimbo’s supposedly supernatural abilities. Ultimately, the novel rejects black-and-white thinking; though Dart, Dr. Archer, and Frimbo eventually give scientific and rational explanations for the strange elements of the murder case, possible instances of mysticism remain, and the lines between science and the supernatural are blurred.

As men of science and logic, Detective Dart and Dr. Archer find it odd that an intelligent, educated man like Frimbo chose to become a fortune teller. Dr. Archer guesses that fortune-telling is a “better racket than medicine in this community” (21), reinforcing negative stereotypes about spiritual healers, especially Black ones. Through Frimbo, Fisher plays with the negative tropes about African and diasporic religions that were popular in his era, in which “witch doctors” were villains. While Frimbo maintains cultural and spiritual practices, he blends them with scientific rigor, creating a nuance where Dart and Dr. Archer initially refuse to see it.