Devil in a Blue Dress
Ratings31
Average rating3.8
The first novel by “master of mystery” (The New York Times) Walter Mosley, featuring Easy Rawlins, the most iconic African American detective in all of fiction. Named one of the “best 100 mystery novels of all time” by the Mystery Writers of America.
The year is 1948, the town is Los Angeles.
Easy Rawlins, a black war veteran, has just been fired from his job at a defense factory plant. Drinking in his friend’s bar, he’s wondering how he’ll manage to make ends meet, when a white man in a linen suit approaches him and offers him good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a missing blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.
Easy has no idea that by taking this job, his life is about to change forever.
Series
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10 primary books#1 in Easy Rawlins
Easy Rawlins is a 10-book series with 11 primary works first released in 1990 with contributions by Walter Mosley and Uda Strätling.
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As far as hard-boiled detective novels go, I enjoyed the writing style in Devil in a Blue Dress more than most. The narrative and the mystery seem to meander, and unlike puzzle mysteries, you are not given the opportunity to solve along with the detective. I also wished Easy had more drive, more hope for a certain outcome. But I did want to keep reading throughout.
Update: I watched the movie version and it was excellent, I dare say better than the book.
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