Review of Cahokia Jazz

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A friend who reviews science fiction has been recommending this book for some time, so I finally broke down and bought it. It's a fascinating and dense book, full of concepts.

The main conceit is that in an alternate 1920s, the natives in and around Cahokia Mound (a real place in southwestern Illinois, very close to St. Louis MO) have been able survive and thrive against white expansionism. The area was independent for a long time, but during the Civil War joined the Union on the side of the North.

Structurally, the novel is a hard-boiled murder mystery, with Barrow, a "Lost Boy" (he was abandoned at an orphanage as a baby) working as a detective with the city police and investigating the murder. We get all of the tropes of a hard-boiled mystery plus the existence of the former royalty of independent Cahokia, as well as the Klan and Red Scares. It's really a great read.



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