South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Strong plot, a ‘daredevil newshawk’ with a camera
By Oline H. Cogdill
Authors often invigorate their careers by introducing new characters, different series or unexpected plots. After 18 novels, Gary Phillips has found a new direction for his storytelling: historical fiction set in the Black community.
Using the tenets of the private detective novel that he honed in his Ivan Monk series, Phillips started this approach with his terrific 2020 novel “Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem,” in which he reimagined the life of the real Matthew Henson, a Black explorer who was part of the expedition with Robert Peary that claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909.
Phillips’ knack for making the past feel immediate is on point in the well-plotted “One-Shot Harry,” his first novel about Harry Ingram, a freelance photographer whose work appears in newspapers and magazines serving Los Angeles’ Black community during the 1960s. Although this Harry is fictional, Phillips’ inspiration for this character came from two real Black photographers from this time period, including Harry Adams, who was nicknamed One-Shot Harry for his quick work.
In Phillips’ vision set in 1963 Los Angeles, Harry Ingram is equally quick with his camera, taking candid shots around the neighborhood, posed glamour pictures assigned by the magazines, surreptitiously photographing criminals and good and bad police, who often challenge his press credentials. It’s those photos of abusive and violent cops that often get Harry’s camera smashed.
But he also is quick to unspool his film before it can be exposed — digital is decades away — and he has gathered enough parts of other cameras to be his own repairman. He is, as one character says, “a certified daredevil newshawk” chronicling Black life in L.A.
“One-Shot Harry” finds the titular character reconnecting with white jazz trumpeter Ben Kinslow, with whom he served in Korea. Ben has just moved back to Los Angeles, and is trying to re-establish his music career while he works as a driver for one of L.A.’s wealthiest men. But a few days later, Ben is killed in an automobile accident.
One of the first on the scene, Harry is suspicious of the accident. Ben was an expert driver whose prowess saved their lives and other soldiers’ lives during the war, even under heavy artillery. Harry immediately takes photos of the scene, then begins his own investigation. Of that time in Korea, Harry “was the one left standing. He couldn’t bring Kinslow back, but he could find out what happened.”
Harry’s search for the truth takes him through various L.A. neighborhoods, from white areas where he is not welcomed to Sugar Hill, which during the 1930s was one of the few areas where Blacks were permitted to live.
Phillips vividly depicts 1963 L.A. “One-Shot Harry” is set against the background of the election during which former police officer Tom Bradley is stepping up his campaign for city council; Bradley would eventually become the first Black mayor of L.A., serving five terms. “One-Shot Harry” also centers on the upcoming visit of Martin Luther King Jr. and the ramifications of his Freedom Rally. Phillips’ frequent mentions of real activists, politicians and actors of the time further put the era in focus and gives context to the plot.
Harry’s memories of his tour of duty in Korea never leaves him, manifesting with occasional flashbacks, though he does his best to keep his PTSD hidden. Photography allows Harry, often an outsider, to blend in and to hide in plain sight, invisible to Blacks and whites — “seen, but not seen, his face often obscured by the camera in front of it.” He especially prefers to photograph stable hands, domestic workers, blue collar laborers, the “never-seens,” like he is.
Phillips’ insight into racism, attitudes toward Black veterans, the Civil Rights movement, Black press and politics of the 1960s elevates “One-Shot Harry.” Readers will look forward to more camera work from Harry, and Phillips.
Oline H. Cogdill can be reached at olinecog@aol. com