Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition): An Easy Rawlins Novel

Walter Mosley

Jun 2010 · Easy Rawlins Mystery Book 1 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Devil in a Blue Dress, a defining novel in Walter Mosley’s bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series, was adapted into a TriStar Pictures film starring Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins and Don Cheadle as Mouse.

Set in the late 1940s, in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles, Devil in a Blue Dress follows Easy Rawlins, a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Monet, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.

Ratings and reviews

PLOT OR PREMISE: Easy Rawlins lives in L.A., 1948. He's a black war veteran who just lost his job for mouthing off to the boss. Then a man comes along with an easy proposition: find a girl who was hanging out with the blacks at the jazz bars. While Easy needs the money to keep the little house he bought, he wants to know why the guy wants the girl found. Then he finds out others are looking too. Bodies pile up, having been worked over first, and the girl turns out to be connected to politics. While Easy finds the girl, it comes along with a lot of trouble from crooks, politicos, and cops who think he's good for one of the murders. . WHAT I LIKED: The story moves, the characters are interesting, and the descriptions of the settings are well-written enough to give the reader the feel of each place in the story. . WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The characters may be interesting but are not well-developed. This story definitely has the feel of the pulp mystery fiction of the 50s and 60s, with lots of action, but no depth to the main characters. I never particularly cared about Easy, although I like the parameters of the character. . BOTTOM-LINE: Smooth as silk . DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.

It is hard for a writer to come up with a series character and damn if Walter Mosley didn't pull a rabbit out of the hat with his character Easy Rawlins. I have never met nor heard Mr. Mosley speak--but I swear I can hear the voice of Easy and that my friend is no easy task. And of all things--not a detective or cop, but a high school janitor right out of left field. Talk about a creative mind and a wonderful character. Easy Rawlins is a soul you will want to revisit again and again. Ralph Griffith, author of Confessions, a Johnny Walker Novel.

About the author

Walter Mosley is the acclaimed author of more than forty books, including the internationally bestselling Easy Rawlins series. His best known Easy Rawlins novels include Devil in a Blue Dress, A Red Death, White Butterfly, Black Betty, and Little Yellow Dog. He is also the author of the collection of stories Always Outnumbered. Always Outgunned featuring Socrates Fortlow, which was the basis for an HBO feature film. A former president of the Mystery Writers of America, he was named a grand master by the organization in 2016. He has served on the board of directors of the National Book Foundation and is a recipient of the PEN American Center Lifetime Achievement Award. A native of Los Angeles, he now lives in New York City.