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'Father's Law' a Reflection of Wright's Masterpieces

In 1940, Chicago-based author Richard Wright published a violent first novel called Native Son. It was a huge success, and he spent the next 20 years blazing trails for other African-American writers.

Wright died of a heart attack in Paris in the autumn of 1960, leaving behind an unfinished novel he called A Father's Law, about a police chief who suspects his son of several murders. That book will finally be published this week by Wright's daughter.

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Alan Cheuse died on July 31, 2015. He had been in a car accident in California earlier in the month. He was 75. Listen to NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamburg's retrospective on his life and career.