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Daily Curmudgeon
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COLETTE'S LIST
Brief Reviews Writ Loud
by Colette Bancroft
Easy in the City of Angels
Mosley's novels have often been compared to
those of Raymond Chandler, mainly because they share vivid settings on the seamy side
of Los Angeles in the middle decades of the century, a less-than-rosy view of human
nature, and tough but noble main characters in Philip Marlowe and Ezekiel Rawlins.
There's another similarity: like Chandler, Mosley wields elegant, economical prose to
create unforgettable characters.Chief among them is series protagonist Easy
Rawlins. In many ways Rawlins is a kind of black Everyman, reflecting the great
migration from the South in mid-century. He grew up in Houston, fought in World War II
and works hard for a better life in Los Angeles, keenly aware of the boundaries imposed
upon him by racism. But Easy is no stereotype; endlessly complex, he continues to
surprise and reward readers. Chandler once wrote that the best mysteries are those you
would read even if the last chapter were torn out; Easy Rawlins is a character who
would make you do just that.Rawlins is not a private eye; he makes his
living at everything from real estate to janitorial work. He's a sometime fixer, drawn
into mysteries, often against his will, because some friend or connection needs his
help. In the course of five novels, he's lost a wife and daughter and gained a couple
of adopted children, made tidy sums of money and lost them, drunk a lot of whisky and
given it up, fought despair and anger and, provisionally at least, won.Just as compelling as Easy is Mosley's
sophisticated re-creation of black society in Los Angeles, beginning in the post-war
40s and moving up, in A Little Yellow Dog, to 1963. Devil In A Blue Dress, published in 1990 to
critical acclaim and nominated for an Edgar, established him as a mystery writer of
the first rank. When Bill Clinton cited Mosley as one of his favorite writers in 1992,
it brought Mosley even wider media attention. In 1994, Black Betty made the New York
Times best-seller list, and the 1995 movie version of Devil in a Blue Dress,
starring Denzel Washington as Easy, was well-reviewed, although it was, for some
perverse reason, a box office washout. Another Easy Rawlins novel, Bad Boy Bobby
Brown, is due in 1998. Mosley has also published one non-series novel, the
well-received RL's Dream, based in part on the life of blues legend Robert
Johnson.Devil In A Blue Dress (1990)
Easy makes a memorable
debut in this tale of a missing, mysterious beauty and the powerful politicians who
hire him to find her. Set in 1948, the novel opens as Easy loses his steady job. When a
sleazy fixer named DeWitt Albright offers him a lot of money to search for a gorgeous
blonde who likes to hang around in black nightclubs, Easy's instincts tell him to stay
out of it, but his mortgage payment pushes him in. "Devil" also introduces not only
Mosley's richly textured version of black Los Angeles but his second-most-compelling
continuing character, Easy's cheerfully psychopathic best friend Mouse. And Easy acquires the first of his adopted children, Jesus, by a highly irregular route.A Red Death (1991)
By 1953, Easy is a small-scale
real estate mogul. He owns several properties in Watts, but no one knows about them
except his wily manager, Mofass. Or so Easy believes until he gets a letter from the
IRS, informing him he's being investigated for tax evasion. Then his old love Etta Mae
shows up on his doorstep, which would be good news if she weren't married to Easy's
fatally jealous friend Mouse. An FBI man offers Easy a way out of his tax troubles --
infiltrate the First African Baptist Church and spy on alleged communist Chaim Wexler.
But as soon as Easy finds himself admiring Wexler, bodies begin to pile up. The
paranoia of the Red-baiting, unrepentantly racist Fifties permeates this tough tale.
White Butterfly (1992)
In 1956 in Los Angeles, the
gruesome murders of three black "party girls" are not a police priority. The lone black
detective assigned to the case asks for Easy's help, but Rawlins is reluctant. He has a
wife and baby daughter he's crazy in love with, he's making plenty of money working
real estate deals with his old friend Mofass, and prowling the mean streets looking for
a kinky serial killer does not appeal. Then a white UCLA coed is found murdered in the
same fashion, a girl from an upper-crust family who's been leading a double life as a
stripper, the White Butterfly of the title. The police make it clear Easy doesn't have
a choice about getting involved, and soon he's "thinking about how my life had gone out
of control." The moving story explores on many levels how families, with the best of
intentions, can destroy one another.Black Betty (1994)
This best-seller has a plot
reminiscent of Ross MacDonald's novels, turning on how unpredictably the past can
ricochet into the present. Easy's own past is part of this case -- he's hired to find
Elizabeth Eady, a woman he remembers from his boyhood in Houston as the seductive Black
Betty, "a great shark of a woman. Men died in her wake." Now nearly fifty, Betty is
still trouble. The wealthy white family for whom she worked as a maid is suspiciously
eager to locate her. The setup stinks, but Easy's real estate empire has crashed, he's
strapped for cash -- and his own memories of Black Betty propel him into the search.
Meanwhile, Mouse is just out of prison after doing a nickel for murder, and he's
hunting the man who turned him in -- a hunt bound to have a deadly conclusion.A Little Yellow Dog (1996)
Easy is off the street,
off the whisky, into a respectable job supervising the custodial staff at Sojourner
Truth Junior High in Watts. Then a pretty young teacher named Mrs. Idabell Turner shows
up very early for work one morning -- and before he knows what's happening, Easy is
making love to her on her desk, then agreeing to take care of her nasty little dog
Pharaoh, which Idabell claims her husband wants to kill. Easy is somewhat sympathetic,
but Idabell is convincing. Then "the handsomest corpse I'd ever seen" turns up in the
school's garden, Idabell disappears, the corpse's twin brother turns up dead as well,
and Easy has more to worry about than the irrascible Pharaoh. The twisty plot revolves
around the burgeoning drug trade of the early Sixties, and the denoument will shock
series fans. Mosley's at the top of his game.Titles discussed in Colette's List
may be purchased at a discount from The Bookstall.
Colette's Archive
Colette's List 1: Hiaasen: Murder Under The Palms
Colette's List 2: Hall, MacDonald & More Murder
Colette's List 3: Crews: The Artist As Scar Lover
Colette's List 4: Mosley: Easy In The City Of Angels
Colette's List 5: Chandler: Trouble Is My Business
Colette's List 6: Mango, Mortal Sin & Margaritaville
Colette's List 7: A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Colette's List 8: The Inferno: James Ellroy's L.A.
Colette's List 9: Spenser Is Parker, Only Taller
Colette Bancroft, a writer known at various times in her career to date as The Goddess of the Classroom, The Empress of Haute Cuisine and The Spitball Queen, is at work on a mystery novel of her own. She is an editor on the Metro Desk at the St. Petersburg Times.
A Not Entirely Disinterested Service of
Bancroft & Associates: Digital Publishers.
