Easy Rawlins Mystery Series by Walter Mosley
Relax & read - mystery list descriptions do not reveal major plot points.

Character's Personality:  Easy Rawlins makes an instant impact with his vibrant, sympathetic personality. He's highly intelligent and extremely hard-working:  attaining the security of the middle class is very important to him.  Apparently he came from unimaginable poverty and grew up in 1920s Houston as a street kid; by the time we get to Black Betty, he's making analogies to Hindu gods and buying real estate.  So obviously he's picked up a lot of education, probably on his own. He's a devoted single dad to his two foster kids, Feather (a girl) and Jesus.

Like most mystery fiction males, he's been damaged by life -- in his case by the war, his hard-scrabble childhood, and rampant racism. This has understandably burdened him with a macho facade of the laconic-standup-guy-show no-weakness variety.  In a lesser character, this could grow awfully tedious awfully fast. It might also mar his character with a hatred of women and white people; thankfully, his personality is a little more complex than that.

He seems to regard women as friends and individuals as well as possible lovers, but he's also not above sleeping around and cheating (in Cinnamon Kiss). As far as white people go, he has a lot of understandable bitterness. This could have made the series very strident: his attitude that every white person has to prove himself trustworthy. But the fact that he's open to seeing the good in some white people and willing to interact with them as individuals reveals his wary hopefulness, and this makes him a more sympathetic character.

He possesses the compassionate, deep curiosity about his fellow human beings that characterizes the best mystery heroes (see Rostnikov and Gimache, both of whom would gladly deal him in for a hand of poker and stimulating conversation.)  He also has a wry sense of insightful humor that he turns upon himself as well as others.  His quest in life seems to be to transcend his violent tendencies and history, and claim a safer and more stable way of life for himself and his family.

Character's Occupation: School custodian, real estate, unlicensed private investigator

Character's Culture / Ethnicity: African American

Character - Other Notable Traits:  WWII veteran, served in Europe

Location and Time Period: Los Angeles, late 1940s-1960s

Mystery Subgenre: Private investigator

Objectionable Material:  Profanity, medium violence, occasional mild to medium sex scene

Other Supporting Characters:

• Alva - tough-minded wife to John and friend of Easy
• Bonnie Shay - stewardess love interest of Easy as of A Little Yellow Dog
• Etta-Mae - tough-minded wife to Mouse and one-time lover of Easy
• Feather - Easy's adopted daughter, a little girl
• Horn, Mr. and Mrs. - white neighbors of Easy who sometimes look after his kids
• Jackson Blue - very smart con-man bookie friend of Easy
• Jesus - Easy's adopted teenage son
• Jewelle - teenage girlfriend of Mofass; very smart and tough.
• John - strong, silent friend of Easy who used to own a bar; husband to Alva
• Lewis, Arno - straight-arrow black cop who tolerates Easy
• Mofass - old emphysemic real estate dealer friend of Easy
• Mouse (aka Raymond Alexander) - boyhood friend of Easy whom everyone fears. He is  a murdering psychopath who can intimidate enemies and do the sort of lawless yet helpful deeds with which our hero could never dirty his own hands. Mouse is a mystery-fiction stock character (see also Lehane's Bubba Rugowski, someone with whom you would never see Mouse associating because they would loathe each other on principle).
• Primo - friend of Easy who supplies him with cars

Series Description: (brought to you by kat impatientreader.com)

Series List: Purple Copyright Date  = I've read it. Title links go to Amazon.com product pages.

• Devil in a Blue Dress (1990). Late 1940s.  Unemployed and about to lose his house, Easy takes an offer from a white man to find a beautiful Frenchwoman who has absconded with a huge sum of money and was last seen with a gangster. 
• A Red Death (1991). Early 1950s. In trouble over his taxes, Easy reluctantly agrees work with the FBI to gather info on a Jew who may be a Communist.  Meanwhile his best friend Mouse comes to L.A. to find and kill his runaway wife Etta-Mae, a woman with whom Easy is in love.
• White Butterfly (1992). 1950s.  Easy must investigate the deaths of several bar girls, including a white coed who moonlighted as a stripper, to clear his friend Mouse who is accused of murder.
• Black Betty (1994). 1950s. Easy must find Black Betty, a femme fatale from his boyhood in Houston.  Now in L.A., she has fled the corrupt, rich white family for whom she worked as a maid, and they want her back for reasons they won't reveal. Meanwhile Easy struggles with real estate, and tries to prevent Mouse from murdering the men whose testimony may have sent him to prison. An interesting read because of Easy's vibrant personality, but a bit flabby in plot. Near the end, the characters explain the plot three different times to each other: a warning sign that it's grown too complicated and gone on too long.
• A Little Yellow Dog (1995). It's 1963.  Easy, looking for safer work, is a school janitor. When a pretty, married teacher gives him her dog, it leads to him trying to help her out of a dangerous involvement with gangsters smuggling heroin in from France. Again, the story is flabby and overlong with characters explaining the overly convoluted plot to each other in the end.  A couple of redundant villains could have been rolled into one stronger, more complex character. But the strong points (Easy's personality, the action sequences, and the depiction of early 1960s black L.A.) make it an enjoyable read.
• Gone Fishin' (1996). It's 1939 in this prequel to the series.  Young Easy and Mouse take a road trip out of Houston to a small Texas town where Mouse hopes to get some money from his evil stepfather.
• Bad Boy Brawly Brown (2000). It's 1964, and friend Alva Torres asks easy to find her son who has become mixed up with black activists and murder.
• Six Easy Pieces (2003). Seven short stories explore Easy's attempts to track down the possibly dead, but possibly alive, Mouse.
• Little Scarlet (2004). It's 1965 after the Watts riots. A young redheaded black woman has been found murdered and the cops suspect a white man whom she recently sheltered.  They recruit Easy to investigate through black L.A., doing damage control so the riots won't increase, but then he finds evidence that a serial killer may be targeting black women who date white men. Regarded by many as the best book in the series.
• Cinnamon Kiss (2005). It's 1966. Easy needs to raise $35,000 fast to get his adopted daughter treatment at a Swiss clinic, so he takes a job to track down some documents that could reveal a wealthy family's past connection with the Nazis.
• Blonde Faith (2008). It's 1967 and two of Easy's best friends have disappeared and are being hunted by villains; he must find them before the villains do.

Return to Index of Mystery Series Lists

Zen, candles, herbs, bookshelves, bookcases, fine furniture, perfume, jewelry, New Age, mind body connection, cooking, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, handmade books, cooking, blank books, art, home decorating, carpets, furnishings, pottery, wine, Zen, gourmet foods, spirituality, tabletop fountains, wind chimes, terrariums, houseplants, Tao, handcrafts, handmade furnishings, artisans, shabby chic, meditation, incense, bells, angels, spirits, tribal arts, Tibetan, Zen, Asian art, India, nature, nature crafts, cooking, aromatherapy, music, folk art, dye, weavings, tapestry, Tao, calligraphy, Tibetan Buddhism, cooking, wind chimes, earth mother, earth goddess, gemstones, garden, talisman, labyrinth, maps, treasures, art objects, fine leather, serious readers, tools for serious readers, Buddha, Krishna, weavings, tapestry, calligraphy, Tibetan Buddhism, earth mother, earth goddess, home decorating, americana, carpets, cooking, library, cooking, gourmet food, wine, kitchen supplies, pasta maker, pens, pen set, stationery, book collecting, photography, sauté pans, baking goods, garlic press, cookbooks, cooking gadgets, cooking tools, chef, gourmet chef, pastry chef, coffee, tea, coffee press, teapots, teacups, coffee mugs, pie, baking supplies, grilling, grills, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, potting shed, gardening supplies, bird watching, bird feeders, birding, bird supplies, cooking, gourmet food, wine, kitchen supplies, pasta maker, pens, pen set, stationery, book collecting, photography, sauté pans, baking goods, garlic press, cookbooks, cooking gadgets, cooking tools, chef, gourmet chef, pastry chef, coffee, tea, coffee press, teapots, teacups, coffee mugs, pie, baking supplies, grilling, grills, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, potting shed, gardening supplies, bird watching, bird feeders, birding, bird supplies, cooking, gourmet food, wine, kitchen supplies, pasta maker, pens, pen set, stationery, book collecting, photography, sauté pans, baking goods, garlic press, cookbooks, cooking gadgets, cooking tools, chef, gourmet chef, pastry chef, coffee, tea, coffee press, teapots, teacups, coffee mugs, pie, baking supplies, grilling, grills, reading glasses, magnifying glasses, potting shed, gardening supplies, bird watching, bird feeders, birding, bird supplies, Valkovalin.com