Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

I first heard of Walter Mosley when I read an article about him in the LA Times. His book Devil in a Blue Dress was making quite a stir and it was rumored that it was going to be made into a movie with Denzel Washington playing the lead role of Easy Rawlins. The thing that interested me was his depiction of life in post WW II Los Angeles, which I had never heard much about before. Turns out it was a great time to be an Angelino, especially if you were black. There were lots of good paying jobs in the military industrial complex and there were lots of ways to spend your money.

Spending your money on good times and the trouble that can sometimes bring is where Easy Rawlins comes in. He is a part time private detective and the kind of guy who knows everyone in town. If you have a problem in the Watts neighborhood, he is the guy you come to. Devil in a Blue Dress is the first of almost a dozen Easy Rawlins books that now exist and it is worth reading, not only because it's a great book, but it also gives you a base to understand the reoccurring characters you will see throughout the series.

The author Walter Mosley now lives in New York, and has created several detective series including Bad Boy Brawly Brown and Fearless Jones, the NY and Southern versions of Easy Rawlins as well as children's books and a sci-fi series. I was not a big fan of crime genre until I started reading Mosley's work, but now I am hooked.