The Latest Easy Rawlins Mystery (The Easy Rawlins Mysteries Book 14)

As usual Walter Mosley does it again. Great!!! I grew up in LA and recognize all the areas he talks about in the book. I would love to see Denzel play Easy again in any of the books made into a movie. Good as usual. Can't wait for the next one.

I'm never disappointed with a Mosley novel. This exceeded my expectations. This had everything an Easy piece could ever want. Mouse, Fearless Jones and a he even made mention of some his best characters from past Easy pieces. Very good read.

Walter Mosley’s hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins roamed the streets of Watts from the 1940s through the 1960s. If there was someone of note in the region unknown to Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, he could turn to a wide range of friends and acquaintances, some in law enforcement, some not. There was always a way for Easy to find his man — or, just as often, his woman. And, more often than not, go to bed with her.

A simple case that’s not simple at all

In Charcoal Joe, the 14th installment in Mosley’s ongoing saga of the brilliant private eye, old friends bring Easy unwelcome new business. The assignment seems simple enough at first. A 21-year-old African-American prodigy with a Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford has been hauled into jail by the LAPD, charged with a murder he seems very unlikely to have committed. But there’s nothing simple about this case. All too quickly, Easy is caught up in an endlessly complicated four-way tussle over millions of dollars in cash and diamonds. Dead bodies fall all along the way.

Everybody’s favorite African-American detective

Easy Rawlins came up the hard way. He’s an orphan, raised in Texas and Louisiana, who made his way onto the crowded streets of Los Angeles in the years after he left the Army in World War II. In Charcoal Joe, the year is 1968, and Easy is now in his 40s. A recent windfall supplied him with the capital necessary to open a new agency, which he and his two partners have mysteriously called the WRENS-L Detective Agency. Go figure.

Easy encountered early in life some of the many challenges he faced as a Black man. “We came from dark skins, darker lives, and a slim chance of survival,” he muses. “Where we came from he’s dead was as common a phrase as he’s sick or he’s saved. People died in our world with appalling regularity.” He describes his best friend as “one of the most dangerous men alive. . . He was mostly evil and definitely a killer but black men in America had learned centuries ago that the devil not only offered the best deals — he was the only game in our part of town.”

A dizzying cast of characters

The central storyline in Charcoal Joe is clear enough. It’s a murder mystery. Easy’s job is to prove who really killed the two men that the young prodigy is accused of murdering. But the story is overlaid with numerous subplots and a cast of minor characters far too large to follow for a reader with failing memory such as mine. As a window into the diverse African-American community in L.A. in the year when Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy were both assassinated, Charcoal Joe is fascinating. But the novel would have been more successful if Mosley himself or an editor had culled or merged at least a few of the characters.

About the author

Walter Mosley has written 50 books, including 14 in the Easy Rawlins series of detective novels. He was the recipient of the 2016 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Mosley’s work spans a wide range of genres, from detective fiction to erotica, plays, young adult fiction, and nonfiction.

This was my first read from Walter Mosley. There were lots of characters to follow but I was told his characters were from previous books. Guest you would have needed to read others books by the author to follow the character signifiances. Overall despite the many characters the book was intriguing which kept you engaged. Would recommend it as a read.

Mosely gives us a look at the assumptions underlying relationships; black/white, young/old, male, female in a way that is thought-provoking and that transcends time. His insights into human interactions are as valid in 2016 as they were in the late 60's.

With his usual insight and sensitivity to African American vulnerability, Mr. Mosley continues to capture our imaginations as he tests our ability to empathize with his characters. He is just exceptionally talented and honest about life in this country for African Americans no matter who they are.

The book keeps you enthralled from beginning to end with a very colorful array of characters. Mosley holds your attention with a story of numerous twists and turns as you are transplanted to 60s era LA.

I found this Easy Rollins story true Walter Mosley. I enjoyed it very much. One thing, I could have been a little longer. I did not want the story to end.
When I read this novel, I could picture Denzel Washington as Eazy and Don Cheadle as Mouse.