Walter Mosley
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley takes place in 1948 in Los Angeles. Ezekial (Easy) Rawlins, a black war veteran, has just been fired from his job for defying his white boss. Worried about making his mortgage payments, he agrees to take on a job for a white gangster. His assignment, for which he is handsomely paid, is to find Daphne Monet, a beautiful young blond woman known to frequent black jazz clubs. As a black man, Easy has access to these bars and begins asking questions. He soon discovers he is not the only one trying to locate Daphne. The hunt is on to find her before anyone else does. He is joined by his former partner, Mouse. Along the way, several people are murdered, and Easy is hauled in for questioning by the police. But he and Mouse emerge from the ordeal relatively unscathed and a little richer. Easy announces his intention to embark on a new career path—that of a private investigator.
The crime novel unfolds in the first-person voice of Easy. His voice is fresh, original, and engaging. He takes the reader on jaunts to jazz bars and barber shops, from Watts to Beverly Hills, and from the underworld of Los Angeles to the world of the shady rich and famous. He interacts with black and white gangsters, is fast-talking, knows what to say and what to hold back. Easy comes close to losing his life but manages to survive thanks to a bit of luck and to the quick actions of his gun-carrying side-kick, Mouse.
This fast-paced narrative leads up to the climactic confrontation between Easy and Daphne. The dialogue is authentic. The atmosphere of post-WWII America is realistically infused with racial tensions. The novel is peopled with colorful characters ranging from the femme fatale Daphne, to the bartender Joppy, to the alluring Coretta, to the steely-eyed DeWitt, to the loose cannon Mouse, and to the solid Odell. Weaving them together is Easy, the quick-thinking, smooth-talking reluctant detective who searches for answers by plying his friends with drinks.
This is a quick and enjoyable read that immerses the reader in the gangster world of the late 1940s Los Angeles.