Synopses & Reviews
Devil in a Blue Dress, a defining novel in Walter Mosley’s bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series, was adapted into a TriStar Pictures film starring Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins and Don Cheadle as Mouse.
Set in the late 1940s, in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles, Devil in a Blue Dress follows Easy Rawlins, a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Monet, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.
Review
"A suspenseful novel of human detection more than simply a detective novel....[Mosley is] a talented author with something vital to say about the distance between the black and white worlds." The New York Times
Review
"Richly atmospheric....A fast-moving, entertaining story written with impressive style." Los Angeles Times Book Review
Review
"Devil in a Blue Dress is a brilliant novel. Period. Mosley's prose is rich, yet taut, and has that special musical cadence that few writers achieve. His psychological insights are on-target without being self-indulgent and never get in the way of a sensationally suspenseful story. I read Devil In a Blue Dress in one sitting and didn't want it to end. An astonishing first novel." Jonathan Kellerman
Review
"Add Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress to your must-read list. Easy Rawlins is cut from Philip Marlowe's cloth, but he goes him one better. Easy takes us places Marlowe wouldn't dare to go. He's at home in this rich and chillingly tough world. The language is smart and funny and addictive. I'm already hungry for the next Easy Rawlins tale, and the one after that." James W. Hall
Review
"I read Devil in a Blue Dress. The year was any time I wanted it to be. I was young and beautiful, with plenty of money, watching and listening as Bill Robinson tapdanced his way into my heart." Maya Angelou
About the Author
Walter Mosley is the New York Times bestselling author of five Easy Rawlins mysteries: Devil in A Blue Dress, A Red Death, White Butterfly, Black Betty, and A Little Yellow Dog; three non-mystery novels, Blue Light, Gone Fishin', and R. L.'s Dream; two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, for which he received the Anisfield Wolf Award, and which was an HBO movie; and a nonfiction book, Workin' On The Chain Gang. Mosley is also the author of the Leonid McGill, and Fearless Jones mystery series, The Tempest Tales and Six Easy Pieces. He is a former president of the Mystery Writers of America, a founder of the PEN American Center Open Book Committee, and is on the board of directors of the National Book Awards. A native of Los Angeles, he now lives in New York City.