Black Pearl Author:Alvin Vincent Grimes He stared at his hands, hands which had spilled so much blood and rubbed them together in a washing motion. Snake, intuitive as ever, placed a friendly hand on his shoulder and said, “The only thing that will make that ‘damned spot’ go away is time, Jackson. Time, and the love of a good woman.” In his life, Jackson Blaze has been many ... more »things: hustler, prizefighter, leg breaker, and decorated war hero. Upon returning from World War I to his adopted home of Harlem, New York, he finds himself in the middle of a war between gangster boss Jimmy Rose and the Jewish Mafia for control of Harlem’s lucrative underworld. After recruiting a handful of his World War I comrades to aid him, Jackson wages guerilla warfare against some of the toughest hoods in New York City. As if he doesn’t have enough to worry about, he also finds himself in a passionate love affair with the beautiful and mysterious dancer known only as Tamara. When the stakes are life and death, the slightest mistake could spell disaster. If he has any hope of survival, Jackson must decide whether to follow his head or his heart.« less