I read this book in early August 2021
I had been wanting to read a book by Walter Mosley for several years and had it on my to-read list since 2016. I had heard about Mosley and his Easy Rawlins detective crime series long before and had it in the back of my mind. I finally got to read this first book in the series and loved it.
The story takes place in the late 1940's Los Angeles where a black war veteran who recently lost his job is asked in a bar to find a missing person that gets him involved in crime, corruption and race politics. This is where Easy becomes a private detective and is the first of about fourteen crime mystery novels featuring him.
I had been reading several books recently that focused on the black experience in America and this novel fit right in. A black author writing about the experiences of a black character where race is always just under the surface is not right up there on top of everything. As I read this book I was often overcome by the inherent racism that was expressed in almost every scene where a white person was involved. It was shocking yet a regular part of the life of a black person at that time.
I'm also right now reading The Warmth of Other Suns which is about the migration of black people out of the Jim Crow South. Another book I just finished was Forget The Alamo which was also about slavery and racism among other Southern social problems.
I'm looking forward to reading more books by Walter Mosley and hopefully I will be able to get a hold of the next novel in the series which isn't available as an e-book from the library.
A movie has been made of this novel that I should check out sometime.
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