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Summary: Another of Mosley's Mellifluous Mysteries!
Review: It is always such a joy to read Mosley. His prose literally flows like honey. In his latest, it's 1964 and Easy Rawlins is back. His old friend Mouse is dead, he smokes too much, can't run like he once could-- Easy always needs to make quick get-a-ways, as his readers will remember-- but he has a new, strong independent woman in his life. We are treated to a great plot as usual, and I suspect few people will figure out the ending. Mosley appears to know the city of Los Angeles, the setting of this novel, as well as he knew his buddy Mouse. Mr. Mosley's usual trademarks are here: real flesh and blood characters that rise above those often found in mysteries and a convoluted plot with unexpected twists and turns. Certainly Mosley addresses the race issue. The LA Police Department doesn't come off very well-- and Mr. Mosley wrote this story before the latest scandal of California police officers caught on tape by an amateur photographer for all the world to see. What I always like best about Mr. Mosley is that he can create a character or a scene with the fewest of words. For example, remember the ugly duckling from high school. "She was the kind of girl who would turn beautiful overnight." Or how about Mosley's description of factory workers that less talented writers would take paragraphs to describe: "They were citizens of a nation that had won the major wars of the century and now they were enjoying the fruits of the victors: mindless labor and enough of anything they wanted to buy." My only gripe about this book is the dull, uninteresting cover. Certainly this is no criticism of Mr. Mosley-- unless he selected it-- but I would have never been tempted to buy this book had I not known that Mr. Mosley always delivers. Let's hope this cover gets tossed in the paperback version.
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Summary: . . . And on the other side of the equation . . .
Review: It seems more often than not that the heroes of the mystery genre are white. So for many of us to go back into a racially subjugated time, here in the early sixties, we may realize that we never heard the other side of the story. We missed the other background. No longer with Walter Mosely. Mr. Mosely brings us back to the past, the very recent past, where the black detective really had all the problems the white detective had, i.e. the bad guys would attempt to put him in harms way, plus the subjugation of the (for the most part) white police force. So it would be a mistake for us to say that Mr. Mosely brings a "refreshing" view. Painful, perhaps. Unfortunate, certainly. But always very well written. Here Ezekial Rawlins is asked by his friend, John, to help his girlfriend Alva's son stay out of the limelight or rather, the searchlights of the police department. Brawly has been influenced by a Black Group named the First Men. Whether they truly seek only the leverage and subsequent parity that equal education can bring (the 1960's in Los Angeles was only a few years after Brown vs. Board of Education) or as the police believe, they were but a front for gun running, bank robbery and revolution, is denied to us as it has been in the last 40 years. However, Mosely doesn't pass judgment on this. Who's to say that in some arenas of social justice the end . . . But we're not asked to go there. We follow Easy, troubled by a violent past he cannot avoid, haunted by the sins of omission and commission, as the bodies turn up. Easy is a noble man who struggles, like Marlowe before him, Spenser and Cole, to maintain his own sense of integrity. Like some of the music of that time, "(you) who are on the road, must have a code, that you can live by." And Easy has that code, not always accepted by the people who love him or even by himself. But the code works and Mosely has another winner on his hands. John, the friend who first asked Easy Rawlins to help, says at the end that he is grateful for Easy's help in sorting out justice and greed, insult and victory, but all the while John wouldn't mind if he never saw Easy again. And it makes sense. Outside of George Pelecanos, few tackle the task of racial injustice but more, the painful "getting along" in the novel genre as a background to murder and the mystery. Highly recommended stuff.
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Summary: Love WM, but this one didn't do it for me.
Review: It took me forever to get through this book. The only reason I stuck with it was because of the author's track record. IMO, without Mouse, there was nothing that set this book apart from any average read. There were too many characters, and I didn't feel anything for the leads. And as for Brawly...I didn't care if Easy ever found him and what had happened to him. Mouse is what made the Easy Rawlins Mysteries. This book was a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow but steady
Review: Mosley couldn't write a bad book -- even at gunpoint. His characters are always very real, very rounded and three-dimensional. But the focus of the Easy Rawlins series is always on Easy: his ruminations, his regrets, his recollections. In this instance, it is his self-recrimination for his perceived part in the death of his lifelong friend Mouse. And it is with great relief, even joy, that he takes on the job of finding young Brawly Brown. The search is everything: it validates Easy's sense of self-worth; it allows him to draw upon a lifetime's hard-learned knowledge of how to navigate the byways in the white world. And since the year is 1964 and the world is on the cusp of improved racial parity, Easy is able to draw respect and fear, in equal measures, from both sides of the equation. As is appropriate to a man of Easy's advancing years, the plot moves at a fairly leisurely pace. Easy has become a man of a certain wisdom, and he tracks Brawly and his associates with dogged, yet pleasurable, determination. It is a slow, steady journey with a satisfactory conclusion. What matters in this book, almost as much as unearthing the truth about what Brawly is involved in, is the family that Easy has created, the children for whom he is responsible, and the woman of worldly wisdom he has come to love. It is wonderful to read about a man determined to see his children educated -- in whatever way is possible or viable -- so that their lives will be better than his own. There remains the question: Is Mouse really dead? A Mosley book is always worth reading; this one is no exception.
Recommended.
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Summary: Past mindsets
Review: Mosley with his precise, economical writing gives us a glimpse into the thoughts of a people we probably never knew. Always interesting, we solve a puzzle as Easy works his way, one person at a time, to the solution. Well done.
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Summary: Flesh and Ghosts
Review: Mouse is not dead. In "Bad Boy Brawly Brown" Mouse's spirit pervades nearly every page, certainly every chapter and, ultimately, Mr. Ezekiel Porterhouse Rawlins finds that, whether dead or alive, Mouse has given him the solution to the problem of Brawly Brown. And Walter Mosley offers a solid hint that Easy's quest to purge himself of his guilt over Mouse's death will be continued in the next installment in the series. I can't believe that I'm saying this: This book was worth every day I've waited for it over the past six years. After completing the book moments ago, even as a dedicated Mosley fan I was struck numb by the power of his words and his vision here. Other reviewers have commented on that already. But because Mosley is writing about a now well-documented period of history and my life when secret police "intelligence" units along with the FBI ant others were concocting provocations and committing extra-judicial murders much as Mosley describes them in his novel, perhaps it resonated with me more than it might with other readers, or at least resonated differently. I knew people such as Mosley describes in this novel in the late '60s and early '70s, people filled with the desperate passions of revolutionaries and dreams of a greater freedom for their humanity. Mosley honors the memories of many members of a generation that struggled and dreamed by allowing their many voices to speak through his characters with all their flaws and strengths. The brightest threads of Mosley's multi-textured and intertwining plots are those which reveal Rawlins, the man, unobstructed by the ferocious shadow of Mouse, and the torture of human relationships, especially those of family. One reviewer commented that this novel did not provide the action and thrills (s)he expected from a mystery novel. Mosley's novels are not thrill-a-minute rides any more than James Lee Burkes'. They are stories of the human condition and how it traps us, for better or worse, into behaving in ways that we would prefer to avoid but cannot because of duty or honor or responsibility or love or obligation or fear. Seen in this perspective, Mosley does not write mystery novels,he writes literature. And the fact that he so captures and exposes elements of African-American culture and experience and history places him as a writer in the first rank of ethnic spokespersons, in the company of Chester Himes, John A. Williams, James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed, and many other men and women who seek to celebrate triumph over suffering even when that triumph is celebrated by simply returning home, alive, and wiser. I have heard that Mosley is working on the next Easy Rawlins experience and that we will not be required to wait another six years to savor the words that describe them. I fervently hope that this is true. In the meantime, I will ponder what I have read today and I will remember when so much of it was life and not fiction. Bravo, Mr. Mosley. And thank you.
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Summary: Easy Does It Again!....
Review: Mystery fiction readers already hip to Walter Mosley's penchant for capturing the uniqueness of time and place, will readily recognize variations of a familar theme in his latest Easy Rawlins adventure, Bad Boy Brawly Brown. Despite a meandering and involved plot, it gains style points by once again allowing the protagonist to exert himself in a way that black men would want to emulate....and that is living a dignified life, where chivalry is not allowed to die, and where helping others who have limited resources get a chance to have problems solved and still have change left over for acceptance in the community! In this case, we find Easy lamenting over the possible demise of his friend and sidekick, Mouse (Raymond Alexander) while waiting for the next drama to unfold. It comes in the form of the all of his cases are determined: Helping a friend with a problem, reluctantly acquiescing, and finally giving in to the need to make things happen. I'm more than biased as I've long been a fan relative to the opening statement of this book review. What keeps me turning pages is a realistic, believable, and compelling detective who's not adverse to using guile, wit, good and bad luck to take advantage of happenstance. To really understand Easy Rawlins, and see why the books are such Easy reads consider the modus operandi that has become a staple for Mosley: establishing rationale for the heroic while deftly manipulating and exposing a black community through the favors, fears, and friendships Easy trades on. Int this depiction it allows our hero to stand out as an icon underscoring the relevance of a proud, resourceful gumshoe used to getting results. Bad Boy Brawly Brown uses the backdrop of the civil rights era, circa 1963 taking readers back to Compton, CA during the months leading to the Watts riots. With racial tension at an all time high, Easy seemed to have solved all of life's complexities despite the strife around him..until he's pulled out of respectability by a call for help from his friend, John. John asks to be helped in tracking down Brawly Brown, son of his girlfriend, Alva Torres. It doesn't help matters none when rumor has it that Brawly may have fallen into bad company, either with seasoned thugs who may be holding him for ransom, or with a group of radicals whose strident ideals and angry politics are pointing toward vociferous protest. In typical Easy fashion, the author introduces subplots and adjunct characters to set the tone and pace for an engaging story. There's an underlining, if not intriguing query attributing to Mouse's true whereabouts that make you think something is missing due to the role of the latter in all the books of this series. Is he still alive? Will it affect Easy's job of locating Brawly? Tune in and read this book, it doesn't disappoint. The Mosely fans will readily see that the Mosley think tank is intact and full of color...the natural cadence of speech and behavioral patterns of a community ring true -- with Easy right in the middle!
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Summary: Easy does it
Review: The cool thing about Easy Rawlins is that he's not only been around the block, but he can walk around the block backwards blindfolded and not run into a wall. The brother has got the respect of the community, and he knows when to use muscle and when to use his brains. He should have it made. The only problem is that trouble always finds him, like a crazy drunk finds a bottle. Trying to help an old friend track down his stepson, Easy discovers the two sides of the civil rights movement circa 1964. He meets both young idealists and more violent revolutionaries... and needs to find out which are which. At the same time, Easy is grieving over the recent death of his best friend Mouse. The result is a well-paced mystery with the requisite twists. Mosley does a great job sucking in the reader into the rhythm of Easy's Los Angeles. It almost feels like home.
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Summary: Easy Rawlins and the Civil Rights Movement
Review: The mystery in "Bad Boy Brawly Brown" serves as a device through which the black perspectives of the 60's civil rights' movement are explored. The people in this story ranged the full spectrum of attitudes, from the apathy of the older generation through noble ideals to the militant actions of youth. Never once does the narrative avoid the honesty of portraying the times. In the midst of all this, Easy Rawlins strives to rescue Brawly Brown from the troubles of the times. While still coming to terms with the death of his best friend, Mouse, Easy Rawlins accepts a request to find Brawly Brown and help him. Easy's long time friend, John, asks him to find his girlfriend's boy, Brawly, whom John had hired on at his construction site. Since becoming involved with the Urban Revolutionary Party, Brawly had dropped out of touch with his family. His mother was scared that he might be in serious trouble. For the fee of one home cooked meal, Easy agreed to look into it. Throughout the novel, black culture is presented in all its colors. Dialogue varies with the education level and social status. "'I'm no cop brother. I heard about this place down at Hambones. They said you guys do a lot a talkin' and I decided to come on down and hear you out.' My diction and grammar slid into the form I wanted junior to hear." Status is determined as much by the shade of skin color as well as well. The darker a black person's skin is, the more African he is, and the more trusted he is within the black community. Those with paler skin are shunned for betraying their race by the accident of birth. Filled with distinct characters, there is no room in "Bad Boy Brawly Brown" for stereotypes. If there is any weak aspect of "Bad Boy Brawly Brown," it is that the cast of characters is simply too large. Even though all the characters have distinct voices, many of them are not heard enough to leave a lasting impression. Beyond Easy, the most memorable character never actually appears in the course of the events of the story. Raymond "Mouse" Alexendar, Easy's lethal sidekick through six previous books died three months before the events of "Bad Boy Brawly Brown." Easy's guilt and an unreasonable glimmer of hope (since when has hope ever been a product of reason?) breathe vitality into his living memory of Mouse. At every turn, Mouse's voice whispers violent solutions to every difficult situation in which Easy becomes enmeshed. Easy bounces from one situation to another as the plot meanders along. Several times the story threatens to stall as Easy talks to yet another person about Brawly's past, present and uncertain future. Many times Brawly's personal situation is less compelling than the evolution of the Urban Revolutionary Party. These glimpses of the individual emotions and actions behind the civil rights movement hold the power of living history. "Bad Boy Brawly Brown" is a compelling tale more because of the insight it offers into the civil rights activities of the '60's in the Watts district than as a murder mystery. With vibrant dialogue and vivid descriptions, this episode of Easy's life is still a richly rewarding tale.
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Summary: LA in 1964
Review: The sixth installment of Mosley's LA-set series opens a few months after the traumatic events of Little Yellow Dog (including the apparent death of his best friend, Mouse). Easy Rawlins is trying to get his life back on track as the woman he met in that last adventure, Bonnie, has moved in with him and his children, Feather and Jesus. However, his old friend John, who did him a few favors in that last book, calls upon Easy for help. John's stepson Brawly seems to have fallen in with a bad crowd of black revolutionaries and John wants Easy to extricate him before anything bad happens. There's a nice subplot about Jesus wanting to drop out of high school, and how Easy deals with that, which ties into the father/son theme that runs strongly throughout the entire series.
But this relatively simple favor gets quickly complicated as Brawly proves hard to find and Easy stumbles across yet another dead body (it would be interesting to go through the series and tally up how many times Easy has come across a corpse). Soon he is digging into Brawly's family history, as well as attempting to meet members of the Urban Revolutionary Party. This allows Mosley to show the state of the civil rights movement, which is shown in all shades of gray--from militant, to earnest, to misguided, to naive, to indifferent, and everything in between. It also allows him to highlight the dirty tricks of the FBI and police, who had special clandestine units set up to monitor and sabotage groups like the fictional Urban Revolutionary Party. One minor flaw in the book is the generic feel of this group, they come across as a small collection of earnest, but vaguely naive and misguided people.
As usual in the Easy Rawlins series, as he drives around town poking around, lots of characters are introduced--many of which are more interesting than the main characters. Also as usual, what should be relatively straightforward is awfully complicated, and of course the racist police are just waiting to crack some heads. Fortunately for Easy, he keeps hearing the dead Mouse's voice in his head, dispensing advice when things get tough. This device gets pretty cheesy after a while, and one keeps waiting for Mouse to arise from the dead and walk into the story at a crucial point. Another minor flaw with the book is that almost the entire book passes with little information about Brawly, there's little reason for the reader to care about whether Easy rescues him or not. Even Easy starts questioning just how deep he's going to get into the matter, and whether Brawly is worth it. The ultimate solution at the end is rather a neat one, and on the whole, the book is one of the stronger in the series.
Note: At one point in the book, Easy makes the angry point that there are no black Ambassadors representing his country. While is is certainly true that America's diplomatic corps has been largely white until the 1970s, in point of fact, the first black Ambassador was appointed in 1948 as envoy to Liberia. His name was Edward Dudley, and his story and that of other early black diplomats is detailed in the book Black Diplomacy: African Americans and the State Department, 1945-1969.
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