The Conjure Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem

Detective Sergeant Perry Dart is the first Black police officer in the Harlem Police Department to be promoted to the rank of detective and one of the main protagonists of the novel. Dart is an intelligent and cool-tempered detective with a “bright, alert, and practical” brain and a history as a school athlete (10). He takes his work seriously and quickly collects the evidence and suspects in the case with the help of Dr. Archer and Bubber Brown.

Dart is a rational, practical man who finds the strangeness of the case confusing at times. He finds N’Gana Frimbo’s mysticism frustrating and loses patience with the intricate philosophical explanations for his reappearance. He also, however, comes to see him as a brilliant man with great scientific knowledge and philosophical reasoning. His evolution regarding Frimbo makes him a slightly dynamic character, though his characterization as a brilliant detective is static and anchors the text. He also greatly respects Dr. Archer for his exceptional biology knowledge. He calls him a “smart boy” early in the novel after Dr. Archer finds the handkerchief in the corpse’s throat and later states that he “ought to’ve been a detective” (17, 160). He consults Dr.