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In the Heat of the Night Audiobook
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Publisher Description
The pioneering novel featuring African American police detective Virgil Tibbs
“They call me Mr. Tibbs” was the line immortalized by Sidney Poitier in the 1967 Oscar-winning movie adaptation of In the Heat of the Night, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award and was named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Now fans of classic crime can rediscover this suspense-filled novel whose hero paved the way for James Patterson’s Alex Cross, George Pelecanos’s Derek Strange, and other African American detectives.
A small southern town in the 1960s. A musician found dead on the highway. It’s no surprise when white detectives arrest a black man for the murder. What is a surprise is that the black man—Virgil Tibbs—is not the killer but a skilled homicide detective, passing through racially tense Wells, South Carolina, on his way back to California. Even more surprising, Wells’s new police chief recruits Tibbs to help with the investigation. But Tibbs’s presence in town rubs some of the locals the wrong way, and it won’t be long before the martial arts–trained detective has to fight not just for justice, but also for his own safety.
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“The rhythm of Graham’s voice quickens as a local cop on his late-night beat goes from drinking an ice-cold Coke in the diner to dealing with a dead body…The gentle voice that Graham gives Tibbs is juxtaposed with the redneck tones of some of the locals, a contrast that maintains the undercurrent of racial tension that Ball blends with the mystery…Deftly balancing the story’s elements, Graham provides a strong introduction to a classic series of procedurals.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“[Virgil Tibbs is] a remarkable individual who may well end up in the great detective category.”
— New York Times -
“The chief, the force, and the town find it very hard to take when Virgil Tibbs of the Pasadena, California, force is given official leave to help them solve their case. He’s the newest and the brightest of the fictional detectives to appear, and he solves this one with the sort of method and imagination that turns readers into fans.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Awards
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Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel
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Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award
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About John Ball
John Ball (1911–1988) wrote over thirty novels during his career including mysteries, war novels, and adventure stories, but his reputation as a novelist is based on his first work, In the Heat of the Night, from 1965. While under considerable pressure from his publisher to make a change, he insisted on keeping the leading character in his novel a black man. He wrote other books that featured the hero of In the Heat of the Night, detective Virgil Tibbs, including The Cool Cottontail and Johnny Get Your Gun. Born in Schenectady, New York, he grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and worked briefly as a part-time police officer in Los Angeles.
About Dion Graham
Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting.