Darktown vs In the Heat of the Night: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: African American police, African American, Race Relations, African Americans, Police Procedural, Mystery & Detective
Darktown
"Responding to orders from on high, the Atlanta Police Department is forced to hire its first black officers, including war veterans Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith. The newly minted policemen are met with deep hostility…
vs
In the Heat of the Night
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 a skilled…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- In the Heat of the Night is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 6 for Darktown.
- Darktown has the widest readership — 9140 ratings behind its score.
- Darktown runs the darker storyline; In the Heat of the Night stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Darktown | In the Heat of the Night | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (9140) | 3.9 (3308) |
| Hardcover | 3.9 (14) | 4.0 (1) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (43) | 4.5 (34) |
Reception
| Darktown | In the Heat of the Night | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 9140 | 3308 |
| Editions | 1 | 3 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 10654 | 2359 |
| Reading it now | 710 | 171 |
| Written reviews | 1290 | 384 |
| Wikipedia attention | 193 | 1564 |
| Pages | 371 | 176 |