Det. Perry Dart
Introduced in Fisher’s novel The Conjure Man, Dart is notable for being one of the first black police officers to be promoted to detective in Harlem. Although Dart is a very capable investigator, it is suggested that his promotion was not hurt by the fact that in Harlem his unambiguously dark complexion serves him well for the capacity of remaining “invisible in the dark.” He has developed a comradeship with a man who is nearly his polar opposite in a way that is remindful of the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
Dr. John Archer
It is the Depression in Harlem and such is the current facility of Dr. Archer’s practice that Det. Dart cracks a joke about not even realizing he had a patient when the discussion turns to a recent tragic case he handled. Where Dart is dark, Archer features skin that is a lighter shade of so-called “Negro.” Where Dart has the capacity to be overaggressive in discharging his duties, Archer play the mediator. Dart is quiet and contemplative. Archer is prone to lofty one-sided conversations during their investigations together. Where they differ from Holmes and Watson is that Archer doesn’t tell the tale and he’s not something of a bumbler whose purpose is to make the detective seem all the more brilliant in comparison. He also possesses something that Holmes does and Watson does not: a heightened olfactory sense.
Solomon Bright
The story begins even before there is a crime to solve as Dr. Archer relates the story of that tragic case in which the patient was just a baby who needlessly choked to death as the result of a condition which could have been easily treated with X-rays. Instead, the superstitious parents sought the services of magic through a conjurer treatment involving a foul-smelling packet tied around the baby’s neck. The baby’s death has left the father in a near-catatonic state with a look described as “the light of madness” in his yes.
Sonny Dewey
The murder that Dart and Archer are called upon to investigate is not actually that of Bright’s baby, but rather that of Sonny Dewey. He has been stabbed to death in an apartment shared with his Ben, Ben’s wife and their sister, Petal. All three are suspects in the mysterious death of Sonny and all three act very suspiciously and superstitiously.
Red Brown
Red is a man who lives in the same apartment building as the Deweys. He provides some interesting information which could possibly speak to the motive of why Sonny was murdered. Det. Dart also takes special note of the way that Ben’s wife, Letty, stares at Red with “the most intense hatred” he’d ever seen.
