Easy Goin'

   A few days ago I posted a link to 50 essential mysteries. I had read only a handful and wanted to check off one or two more. Within days I received Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress from Reading Public Library. Published in 1990, it's the first of a dozen books featuring Ezekiel 'Easy' Rawlins, who put down roots in Los Angeles after World War II and just hoped to make his mortgage payments and hang on to a steady job. But life in 1948 LA is not so simple for a Black man, and the racial divide is always on full display in this novel. Even the first sentence puts you on notice that there are stark differences between blacks and whites that are about to be exposed: "I was surprised to see a white man walk into Joppy's bar."
   Seasoned mystery readers probably know all about Mosley and his war-weary protagonist Rawlins, but this first book in the series was new--at least to me--and quickly turned addictive. I loved Mosley's writing. His descriptions of  neighborhoods brim with gritty detail, and the characters appear instantly within your mind because he's painted them with bright, vivid colors. I bolted through the book, turning the final page before I wanted to give it up. There's no doubt that I'd travel with Mosley--and Easy--again.
  But be warned. You will encounter the violent, unsavory underbelly of Watts on these pages, and Easy's got to wade through it all while hunting down the whereabouts of beautiful, blond Daphne Monet. Daphne's gone missing (along with a lot of money) and all Easy's got to do to earn $100 is locate her for the cool, pale-eyed guy who walked into the bar on the first page. Considering Easy's just been laid off and has bills to pay, it's a job too good to refuse. His search takes us  inside bars, pool halls and nightclubs, and we meet the people who inhabit Easy's world--some of them more dangerous than others. And the longer he hunts for Daphne, the more trouble he meets--both on the street and inside police interrogation rooms.
   Dead bodies keep showing up and Easy seems to be around most of them. The bad guys don't like Easy's questions and the police are convinced he's a strong suspect in several of the murders that crop up each day. Easy can't catch a break until his best friend Mouse appears to provide some much needed back-up. Despite the cute, sweet sobriquet, Mouse is always ready to rumble and kill if he has to. But he's got Easy's back and arrives in the nick of time to protect our hero. And just to insure that you won't put down the book, Mosley throws in a neat little surprise about Daphne that I never saw coming. Nifty bit of deception.
 The Push From the Book: I'm ready for another installment with Easy Rawlins, and I'm going to read them in order. Next up: A Red Death.