![](https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/70eea1e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5442x3054+0+292/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FA92On6Q3ap1j8YhLQr0hhtfL6YE%3D%2F0x0%3A5442x3638%2F5442x3638%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282721x1819%3A2722x1820%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24613508%2FAP23116711568416.jpeg)
NEW YORK — Call him the Cedric the Novelist.
Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Wednesday that it will publish a novel in September by Cedric the Entertainer. “Flipping Boxcars,” billed as a “valentine” to 1940s crime fiction, is scheduled for Sept. 12.
“Flipping Boxcars is an homage to my grandfather, who I never met, but I’ve been told I am a lot like,” Cedric the Entertainer, who stars in the CBS-TV comedy “The Neighborhood” and has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, said in a statement. “This is an intriguing novel filled with surprises, thrills, triumphs, and the heartaches of a family connected through time and circumstance.”
The novel is co-written by Alan Eisenstock, who has worked on books with George Lopez and Robert Schimmel.