SIX BLACK HORSES

by Nolan Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 29, 1971

Who would ever guess that in the dwindling wake of all those young doctor books there would appear the upward-thrusting career of a dedicated undertaker, but sure enough, here is young undertaker Jordan, Brother Lawrence Xavier Jordan, who works toward the pinnacle of black undertakers. Along the way he blossoms under the saving tutelage of the Dr. Gillespie of the profession, the jovial giant, Lovingood. (""A funeral director is an undertaker with two pairs of pants"" -- Lovingood.) He participates in the parlor competition represented by personalities like Sister Fanny Fears and even at one point by an establishment-smashing militant. Jordan puts aside his art career, completes mortician's school, marries -- who else -- an undertaker's daughter. Finally he makes it on his own, makes it big, with a startling reconstruction of some scattered remains. But the knowledge of his mother's complicity in a murder, the doubledealing of peers, his own preoccupation with death, and the old body race prompt Jordan to touch a match to his business and escape to art and a first love. In spite of the merry workaday detail of stitch and pump, Davis does come up with some saving originals and scenes but the readership depends on the squeam threshold.

Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971

Categories: FICTION