chief wanted to separate the African-American officers for their own protection from the white officers. Their headquarters, known as Butler Street YMCA, is known as the "Black City Hall of Atlanta". Plot Darktown, set in 1940s Atlanta, follows the story of Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith, two of Atlanta's first African-American police officers. The novel begins when Boggs and Smith are patrolling in a predominantly African-American neighborhood when they witness a white man hit and knock over a lamppost and slowly flee the scene. The pair, on foot, order the man to pull over and notice an African-American woman in a yellow dress with a bruise on her face in the passenger seat. The cops are unable to convict the white man, later identified as Brian Underhill, due to his race, so they call in white police officers for backup. Officer Lionel Dunlow and his partner, Dennis "Rake" Rakestraw, show up as backup and let the man off without penalty. While patrolling, Boggs and Smith find the dead body of the woman they had previously seen in Brian Underhill's vehicle. They notice a bullet hole in her chest and no blood near the scene, implying that her body has been moved. The pair return to their headquarters, where they fill out a report on the findings. Boggs calls to get information from records, and he discovers that Brian Underhill was fired from the police force in 1945. Boggs and Smith call Dunlow and Rake to the scene of an assault on the African-American side of town. Upon arrival, a man has been stabbed and instead of helping the situation, Dunlow beats the stabbed man and refuses to call an ambulance, which forces Boggs to run to a callbox and call for one himself. Dunlow leaves the scene, but Rake stays behind and reveals to Boggs that Underhill's name was removed from the report he submitted on the murder of the woman in the yellow dress. Boggs later receives a call from Toon, a writer at The Daily Times, who tells him that the woman in the yellow dress is believed to be the daughter of Otis Ellsworth, a farmer from a fictional town, Peacedale. Ellsworth identifies the woman's body as his stepdaughter, Lily Ellsworth. Boggs questions the farmer and discovers that she worked as a maid for Senator Prescott. Boggs visits the Prescott's house and uncovers that Lily had left