Product Description

The time is 1948. The town is Los Angeles. The hero is Easy Rawlins, an out of work black war veteran. The mortgage payment?s coming due, so Easy accepts the assignment of finding Daphne Monet, blonde torch singer. In his search through a sleazy fearful city, he is lucky to be under the protection of the murderous Mouse...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33142 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
'A brilliant novel. Period. Mosley's prose is rich, yet taut, and has that special musical cadence that few writers achieve... I read Devil In A Blue Dress in one sitting and I didn't want it to end. An astonishing first novel.' Jonathan Kellerman; 'An original, beguiling creation. One of the most impressive first crime novels.' Time Out; 'From the first page, it's clear we have discovered a wonderful new talent...the most exciting arrival in the genre for years.' The Face

The Times
‘An original, beguiling creation. One of the most impressive first crime novels’

Face
A magnificent first novel by Walter Mosley... The most exciting arrival in the genre for years’

Customer Reviews

Out-Chandler's the Master
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence; he is unquestionably his own man.

Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.

It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.

This book stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Easy Rawlins saga due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challenge anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).

Out 'Chandler's' The Master
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence, in that he is unquestionably his own man.

Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.

It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.

This book stands out amoungst the Easy Rawlins saga as a whole due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challange anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).

Out 'Chandler's' the Master
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence, in that he is unquestionably his own man.

Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.

It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.

This book stands out amoungst the Easy Rawlins saga as a whole due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challange anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).