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.