Rating: 
Summary: Great lead character, not much else.
Review: "Easy" Rawlins is a black WWII vet with a jones for the streets, but in SIX EASY PIECES he's gone straight more-or-less, working as supervisor of maintenance at Sojourner Truth High School. He's even got a family, two adopted kids he's rescued from abuse (Feather, a mulatto six-year-old and Jesus, a seventeen-year-old) and a live-in lover, but because of his street reputation people from the black community still come to Easy for help. Easy is not in it for the money; he truly cares about his people.
The "six pieces" in the title are short stories revolving around the same setting. It's 1964 Los Angeles and Easy must take on cases the police disdain because they occur in a dangerous part of town. The first story "Smoke" deals with a smoke-bombing of Sojourner Truth, which Easy eventually traces to a gambling debt.
Throughout the first several stories, Easy is haunted by his friend Mouse's murder. Easy feels responsible since Mouse was helping him on one of his cases. Easy has a feeling the notorious Mouse is still alive. Easy is also upset about his live-in lover Bonnie, a stewardess who may have had an affair with a black politician she met during a tour of Africa. Easy feels inferior to the man.
Outside of Easy, Mosley doesn't have much of a flair for character development. Jesus works on his sailing boat; that's about it. Bonnie tries to convince Easy she still loves him. The plot lines of the various stories are rather pedestrian. "Amber Gate" is about the murder of a young prostitute; Easy takes the case as a favor for his shoemaker who promises him a new pair of shoes (worth $200) if he'll help prove a friend of his is innocent. Easy traces the crime to a hobo who hated black prostitutes who mess with white men. "Amber Gate" is unique in that there is no closure to the story.
I chose this book because of the structure. I didn't really like the first Mosley book I read, but with short stories what's the harm? The same thing happened to me once with Ed McBain. I hadn't been impressed with the 87th Street novels until I read three of them, one after the other. Been hooked ever since. Not the case with Mosley.
Rating: 
Summary: Picking Up The Pieces
Review: A now mellower Easy Rawlins has a stable job, a beautiful home, and a wonderful family. So by most people's standards, he should be content, but this is not the case for two particular reasons. First, he is still mourning the death of his best friend, Mouse, who was a staple in Easy's life. Secondly, since Easy is a man who craves danger, adventure, and the thrill of the chase, living a quiet, normal life is boring to him.As an easygoing man, he likes to help others, and when trouble comes knocking, he answers. The latest trouble surrounds a bomb that explodes at the school where he is employed. Easy's love for the children makes him determined to get to the bottom of things. But the bombing has a domino effect and as the events unfold, he is continuously placed in harms way. Easy faces a cast of original characters and some new shady and interesting ones, all of whom keep him on his toes. SIX EASY PIECES: EASY RAWLINS STORIES, Mosley's latest book, treats readers to seven different Rawlins' adventures, with Easy as the common thread. Mosley has a way of taking readers along on the adventures and this makes his stories even more interesting, and this one comes highly recommended. Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks
THE RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating: 
Summary: Being Black in 1955 Los Angeles
Review: A powerful statement about being a black guy in 1955 when the law treated you as either irrelevant or guilty. Similar to his other books in the Easy Rawlins series, this is an engaging character who struggles to make his way through the game of life with the cards he's been dealt.
Rating:
Summary: Down in the Mean Streets
Review: Easy Rawlins leads a complicated and complex life as a black quasi-detective in 1964 Los Angeles. Orphaned at eight years old, befriended by Raymond Alexander, known as Mouse and who is one of the most cold-blooded killing machines ever born, Easy grew up in Houston's Fifth Ward and has trouble staying out of the mean streets where he became a man. He's fought to change his life of violence, against himself and against others who constantly drag him back into that world where death is quick and harsh, and respect only comes with a stack of greenbacks or at the end of a gun. In SIX EASY PIECES, Easy actually takes on seven cases filled with death and mayhem, the kind of life he's always known, while striving to hold his personal life together and making certain none of that violence spills over onto the family he's struggled so hard to carve out of the tapestry of tragedy that he has never been far from. "Smoke" begins with a phone call that tells him Mouse, the friend whose death he believes he caused and whom he has mourned for the past year, is still alive. Bonnie Shay, the woman he has come to love and to trust, also has to leave the family for her stewardess job for a prolonged junket in Europe, leaving Easy restless until an arsonist strikes at Sojourner Truth Junior High School. As head custodian, Easy has to deal with the reports and the clean up at the school, but as a man of the streets whose best friend's death has left permanent guilt in him and whose woman has left, Easy strides into the shadows of the city after the man who started the fire. Easy follows up the lead he got regarding Mouse and ends up looking for a repentant prostitute then her killer in the church she attended in "Crimson Stain." In "Silver Lining" Easy revisits some old friends who are being blackmailed by a kidnapping, bringing Easy into direct line of fire from an old enemy. Bonnie's loyalty to Easy comes into question during her return from Europe in "Lavender" when flowers arrive at Easy's home before his woman does. EttaMae Harris, Mouse's woman, calls in a favor from Easy while he's dealing with his own pain over Bonnie, asking him to help a young man that has fallen for a young woman hell-bent on death and destruction. Saul Lynx, a private detective Easy has worked with in the past, pulls Easy into a case to clear a man accused of murder in "Gator Green." Family again becomes the central issue in "Gray-Eyed Death" as more of Easy's past surfaces, mixing in an armored car robbery and a frame. In "Amber Gate," Easy goes looking for the murderer of a young prostitute to clear a friend of a friend, and makes a major turning point in his life. Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series has spawned seven novels to date. Six of those novels, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS, A RED DEATH, WHITE BUTTERFLY, BROWN BETTY, LITTLE YELLOW DOG, and BAD BOY BRAWLY BROWN are primarily straight mystery-suspense novels. GONE FISHIN' is an exploration of Easy's early days and the violence that gave birth to the man he started becoming. Mosley has also written two volumes of short stories about ex-con Socrates Fortlow, ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, ALWAYS OUTGUNNED and WALKIN' THE DOG. The author also writes science fiction in FUTURELAND and BLUE LIGHT. FEARLESS JONES introduced another detective duo that so far has only shown up in one novel. RL'S DREAM was a straight novel about the last days of a bluesman. Mosley has also authored nonfiction that includes WORKIN' ON THE CHAIN GANG and BLACK GENIUS. Fans of Easy Rawlins will fall right into this collection of novellas because the resonance of Easy's life and the tapestry of his person history-including his failings as well as his successes-holds true. Long-time readers will get the feeling he or she is revisiting a well-known friend in the middle of several crisis points that those friends have seen coming. If this book is a reader's first exposure to Easy Rawlins and the violent world of pre-Civil Rights Los Angeles of 1964, the introduction to the man, his family, his views of life (and yes, there is more than one) and the violent and mean streets he walks down comes in simple gulps that never impede the action or the emotions. Easy Rawlins is a real person in these pages, full of hope, fear, love and hate. He holds the burning brand of self-knowledge and knowledge of the world, while at the same time being confused by twists and turns he can almost see coming, and being hurt by the unfairness of life that he knows is there but can never truly accept. Mosley's execution of the stories is flawless, pulling the readers into Easy's world and life, into his struggles with outsiders as well as himself. The dialogue is sharp and true, of the street, of years of growing and learning and accepting, of the stations in life that men and women of all colors sometimes get trapped in, and of the trade-off they make with hope and dreams just to find a means to survive. SIX EASY PIECES is an excellent volume of crime fiction, of period noir, and of a man who is still yet growing and changing, still building himself while at the same time being broken and battered. New readers who enjoy the strong male characters of Robert B. Parker and James Lee Burke will find another author and voice to love and respect in these pages, and old readers will be visiting with a true friend they can trust and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: OVER EASY
Review: Fans of the Easy Rawlins Series will be thrilled with this collection of seven short stories, six of which were culled from previous works and one that is original. This collection of short stories are unified by several common threads. First, we have Easy's attitude of grief and guilt over the death of his friend Mouse. Second, Easy's relationship with his girlfriend, Bonnie, is on the rocks. He isn't sure if he is the man for her. Third, we find Easy's deep concern over his adopted son, Jesus, who has dropped out of school. Add all of those elements together and you have a novella with intriguing possibilities. The short stories stand alone but taken as a whole the reader sees another side of Easy. Although it was fun to re-read material published before, I had moments of disappointment with this volume. The constant repitition of facts that you already knew was an annoyance as you moved from story to story. In many cases the story ended to abruptly with you wondering how did Easy get from point A to point B so quickly? In truth I wished that this volume had been an entirely new collection of Easy stories and not just a compilation of older ones. Don't me get me wrong. The book is good but fans of Easy's deserve something new and fresh. Readers who are unfamiliar with Easy will find great collection for them to whet their appetites for more of his adventures. Those of us who are oldtime fans will like the work for its collector's value and will yearn for something new from the author's pen.
Rating:
Summary: LESS SHORT STORIES THAN A NOVELLA
Review: I HAVE READ ALL THE MOSLEY BOOKS, ERGO: PRIOR TO SIX EASY PIECES, THE BOOK "BAD BOY BRAWLY BROWN" WAS SPECTACULAR, & YOU WILL FIND SIX EASY PIECES NEARLY AS GOOD, AS IT PICKS UP WHERE BAD BOY LEAVES OFF. EACH "STORY" IS CIRCA 50 PAGES, AND SMOOTHLY BLENDS INTO THE NEXT ONE. THERE IS A WONDERFUL CONTINUITY AND MANY QUESTIONS THE READER MAY HAVE ABOUT EASY AND MOUSE ARE RESOLVED. CONSIDERABLE ACTION IS SEEN IN THE BOOK AND A VERY MATURE EASY RAWLINS DEVELOPS,WHO COMES TO TERMS WITH MANY A PROBLEM, BUT REALIZES HE NEEDS TO "BE ON THE STREETS". I USUALLY AVOID SHORT STORIES BUT THIS IS ,IN EFFECT, A FULL LENGTH EASY RAWLINS NOVEL, CERTAINLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 1/11/03
Rating:
Summary: LESS SHORT STORIES THAN A NOVELLA
Review: I HAVE READ ALL THE MOSLEY BOOKS, ERGO: PRIOR TO SIX EASY PIECES, THE BOOK "BAD BOY BRAWLY BROWN" WAS SPECTACULAR, & YOU WILL FIND SIX EASY PIECES NEARLY AS GOOD, AS IT PICKS UP WHERE BAD BOY LEAVES OFF. EACH "STORY" IS CIRCA 50 PAGES, AND SMOOTHLY BLENDS INTO THE NEXT ONE. THERE IS A WONDERFUL CONTINUITY AND MANY QUESTIONS THE READER MAY HAVE ABOUT EASY AND MOUSE ARE RESOLVED. CONSIDERABLE ACTION IS SEEN IN THE BOOK AND A VERY MATURE EASY RAWLINS DEVELOPS,WHO COMES TO TERMS WITH MANY A PROBLEM, BUT REALIZES HE NEEDS TO "BE ON THE STREETS". I USUALLY AVOID SHORT STORIES BUT THIS IS ,IN EFFECT, A FULL LENGTH EASY RAWLINS NOVEL, CERTAINLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 1/11/03
Rating:
Summary: 7 Easy cases in 6 Easy Pieces
Review: I love me some Easy Rawlins! When Walter Mosley let loose another round with Easy I was there to pick up the pieces; Six Easy Pieces. Six Easy Pieces is a book of seven different stories reminding fans of who Ezekiel Rawlins is (as if we had forgotten) and what he does that makes us love him so. Mosley shows us a forty-four year old man who over time has become a senior janitor at Sojourner Truth Junior High School, a property owner, the father of two, and the lover of one. Despite all of that, each story has a friend needing his help and in spite of himself Easy ends up in the middle of all the action. Mr. Mosley moves Easy easily through the city of Los Angeles and the rest of Southern California. He is involved with a little bit of everyone doing a little bit of everything. In the story Smoke, Easy investigates arson at his school, in Crimson Stain he investigates the death of a prostitute who found religion, in Lavender he is chasing after a Black boy with his nose wide open behind a flirtatious rich White girl, and in Gray Eyed-Death his past comes bursting back on the scene with a vengeance. These are just four of the seven exciting stories. Easy Rawlins fans will enjoy this book because Mosley gives you small pieces of Easy and his friends in well told stories and good pacing to keep you reading until the end. This is especially good for those who want to satisfy a small itch but have limited time to read a whole Easy Rawlins Mystery. Those who haven't read Easy Rawlins Mysteries before will get recaps to bring you up to speed but will probably find yourself needing to read the other books to get a complete picture. (And that is not a bad thing.) Walter Mosley does it again and I just want him to keep doing it over and over and over again. Kotanya
APOOO BookClub
Rating:
Summary: A great series!
Review: Six Easy Pieces is the second book of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries that I have read. I know that I am late in the series, but I love the character Easy Rawlins. I will read the other books in the series at some point. You are either a fan of the series or you are not and for those of you who are and want to know what happened to Mouse Easy's bet friend you should pick up Six Easy Pieces and find out in the six short stories. Reviewed by Aiesha
Of The Detroit-RAWSISTAZ
Rating:
Summary: Walter Mosley Does It Again
Review: Six Pieces is a must get for any true Easy Rawlins fan. It has suspense Is or Isn't Mouse alive? It has drama What's going with Bonnie? This is a true wonderful book. No wonder Walter Mosley is my favorite author.
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