The Cool Cottontail

John Ball's second novel featuring detective Virgil Tibbs is a compelling story full of well drawn characters. In The Heat Of The Night was a tough debut to follow, but Ball creates a superbly atmospheric, character driven story. Originally published in 1966 it still feels fresh, & there's terrific d......more

The Cool Cottontail by John Dudley Ball is the 2nd book in his Virgil Tibbs mystery series. I enjoyed the first story, In the Heat of the Night, and this book was just as entertaining. In the 2nd volume, Tibbs is once again back in California as an LAPD investigator. Tibbs is called out to the scene......more

I guess I first started wanting to be black when I was a little kid watching Sidney Poitier. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: "You think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself...as a man." Sidney again in "To Sir With Love", easily one of the all time truly great novel-film adaptations (produced......more

Ball wrote a monster first novel that confronted deep set opinions, societal values, and outright racism, becoming a cultural touchstone in the process through its film adaptation. His second novel...not so much. The same lead, Virgil Tibbs, is still here. He's still restrained in the face of systema......more

I was surprised and delighted by this follow-up to In the Heat of the Night, John Ball's tale of a black detective, made into the superb film starring Sidney Poitier. You'd expect a detective story written and published in the 60s and concerning a nudist colony to be sexist and cheap, but this is nei......more