<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Murder and Temptation in 1948 Los Angeles
Review: "Devil in a Blue Dress" takes the reader to post-War Los Angeles, a city burgeoning with new industry and opportunity in 1948. The hero is Ezekiel "Easy" Rollins, a war veteran who came to L.A. for sunshine and good jobs, but now finds himself laid off and in danger of losing his home. A friend introduces him to a sleazy character named DeWitt Albright, who offers Easy the opportunity to make some money fast. Albright is looking for a woman named Daphne Monet. In a city that is largely socially segregated, Miss Monet, who is white, frequents black night clubs and has black friends -some of the same clubs and friends as Easy. Whether in desperation or out of pride, Easy accepts the job and sets out to find her. His search takes him on a tour of the city's shadows: underground jazz clubs, bootleggers and blackmailers, political corruption, and finally to the irresistible and mysterious Daphne Monet."Devil in a Blue Dress" is a pleasant, brisk read. Walter Mosley paints a colorful and intriguing picture of post-War Los Angeles. And his prose effectively expresses the fear and temptation that constantly compete for Easy Rollins' psyche. Easy Rollins is a working class detective who is lent a certain romanticism and distinction by the time and place in which the novel is set. This combination of qualities make Easy an ideal detective novel protagonist who will appeal to a wide array of readers. The character of Daphne Monet is less than believable, I'm afraid. But it is more essential that she be sexy and mysterious than that she be believed, so it is not a serious flaw. "Devil in a Blue Dress" has a little of everything -a likable hero, period ambiance, hard-boiled dialogue, sex, violence, mystery- without losing its focus. It won't appeal to fans of "cozies ", but most mystery buffs will find something enjoyable in it.
Rating: 
Summary: Enter Easy Rawlings
Review: Devil in a Blue Dress established Walter Mosely's reputation as a master of the mystery genre. The creation of Easy, the murderous Mouse, the seductive Daphne and the setting within the Black community transformed the novel from merely a whodunit into an elegant commentary on race. But if that weren't enough, read any page of this novel or any other book by Mosely (esp. Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned) and see how he controls the narrative and description. What is even more fascinating is to watch Mosely's growth in the series to where he tackles the big subjects like guilt and redemption in American life
Rating:
Summary: Try Blue Dress On For Size
Review: Easy Rawlins is not the typical private detective, but he is the freshest one to come around in a long time. Easy is an African American WWII veteran from Texas, now living in 1948 L.A. where he proudly owns a modest home. The home is all he has to be proud of since he got fired from his job at a defense plant. Life for Easy is not easy at all. Then one day, a white man dressed in a white suit offers Easy good money to locate a beautiful blonde known to hang out at black clubs. For a man with a mortgage and no money coming in, the offer is too good to be true. But then offers like this usually are. The plot sounds typical, but Mosley's writing is anything but. Mosley paints a clear and atmospheric picture of racial segregation in post-war L.A., but that picture is not overexposed. Easy not only has to endure the dangers of finding this girl, he must do it in a hostile background where white policemen and higher-ups look for any type of crime that they might pin on him. The story of the transplanted man from the south living on the west coast is not unfamiliar, but making him a black man facing prejudice on every side makes the story more alive and the plot more tension-filled. Again, this is not done in a heavy-handed way, but with a subtle touch that makes you want to turn the pages. Mosley is very much at home with the hard-boiled style of crime noir and it shows on every page. This is not a Hammett or Chandler re-hash. This is a fresh, lively, exciting mystery from a very fine writer. If you haven't experienced Mosley and Easy Rawlins, pick up the Blue Dress and try it on for size. 215 pages
Rating:
Summary: recommended
Review: I enjoyed this book. I feel that Walter Mosely is a unique voice in crime fiction. I look forward to reading more of his works when I have time.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I read this particular novel in about a week and at first it seemed slow, but towards the middle part of the book my interest started to peak. The protagonist Easy Rawlins a fired aircraft worker and WWII veteran gets pulled into a world of deceit by a person he perceives to be a good friend. Easy is hired to look for a woman by the name of Daphne Monet, but everyone he comes in contact with that could possible help him is murdered. Finally Easy starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together with his long time friend Mouse and in the end everything makes sense. The books tangles a serious web of deception which is rather interesting. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Book, But Hardly A Masterpiece
Review: The first Easy Rawlins book is more enjoyable for its physical and cultural setting than it is for its mystery or characters. Set in Los Angeles a few years after WWII, Mosley does a masterful job of depicting a multiethnic city that's still a sleepy collection of neighborhoods in many senses, but has a distinctly seedy side (not unlike James Ellroy's LA Confidential). The story is about Easy, an ex-soldier who loses his job for standing up to his white boss at an aircraft manufacturing plant. Desperate for money so he can meet his mortgage and not lose his pride and joy of a house, he's offered a lot of money to look for a white woman who's been hanging out at illegal after-hours black clubs. Of course, he's not the only one looking, and soon he's up to his neck in bootleggers, crooked politicians, racist cops, and round-the-way girls. In noir fashion, the mystery is fairly complicated, perhaps overly so with a number of minor characters who run together. As events move beyond Easy's grasp, he has to call on his old friend from Houston, Mouse, to help him out. Mouse is a thoroughly nasty bit of work, and there's some good tension between him and Easy. Ultimately, the "big" twist at the end isn't that surprising. The book is so thoroughly steeped in race that it's the only plausible solution to a number of thorny questions. As an average hardworking black man, just trying to live with dignity in a racist world, Easy is well-drawn and sympathetic. What doesn't work as well is when he hears "the voice" inside his head, which appears at moments of stress and urges him not to take any [...] and stand up for himself. It's a device that's remarkably amateurish, given the solid control Mosley exhibits over the rest of the narrative. It should be noted that the book's female characters will probably not be to the taste of many female readers, and indeed, while Mosley seems to have a very clear comment to make about race, his take on gender is rather ambiguous. It's a fine book, but nothing truly spectacular or new. It does a nice job of depicting LA at a certain time, but comparisons with Chandler and Ellison are a stretch, other than Chandler wrote in the same genre, and Ellison also wrote about race.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing!
Review: This book is truly a masterpiece. The characters are amazing and the story is great. This is the kind of book that you can visualize in your head, you can see every scene occuring. I read this book in one sitting, I couldn't put it down. From the begining to the end--perfection!
Rating:
Summary: A fine read told from the other side of the tracks
Review: Walter Mosley's Devil In a Blue Dress is a fantastic mystery/crime drama set in Post World War II Los Angeles. The protagonist Easy Rawlins finds himself an unlikely but strong willed black detective sorting out a mystery-in-progress. The case begins as a simple 'lost female' case but soon spins and develops into a multiple tiered story of blackmail and cover-up. The case begins to involve everyone from black bootleggers and gunmen to white mayoral candidates and prejudiced policemen. The beauty of the novel is its ability to put Easy in both situations of Black culture and White aristocracy. Both situations Easy runs headlong into, always managing to keep his pride intact. Like Chandler's Marlowe the story seems to evolve as characters fly in and out of Easy's life. But unlike Chandler, Mosley has accomplished the effect of creating truly perilous drama and action. There is a sense of immediacy and danger when Easy tells his story. Much of this feeling could be explained by the fact that Easy must battle not only for the truth, but also his right to grasp the truth as a black man. The novel works on a cultural critique level, making judgments and offering lessons on the hardships of American blacks and the importance of race in American culture.
Rating:
Summary: Great read with a unique cast of characters
Review: Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress (Pocket, 1990) Walter Mosley's first novel featuring detective Easy Rawlins is a good one; the characters are well-drawn, the plot is solid, the pace fast. This is good beach reading; quick, easy, digestible. Mosley's style grates on the nerves now and again, especially when the exclamation points rear their ugly heads in inappropriate places, but that's ultimately forgivable in the greater scheme of things. Worth a look for mystery fans who haven't yet been introduced to Mosley. ***
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled, this novel is not that great
Review: While most of the preceding critics of Mosley's mystery rave about this and that, my opinion on the literary merit rates about average. While it is an entertaining mystery to most, the underlying themes and syntax are suitable merely for the high school freshman. The main character, Easy Rawlins, virtuously overcomes the social injustices of racial prejudice blacks faced at the time while also noting similar bigotry against the WWII Jews. The mystery holds suspense but the plot line overall is not fully satisfying. Overall I was bored reading it, and the class discussions I participated in (I am a student at UCR) were less than lively. The part about this book that I hated most is that it portrays the white man in disgusting fashion. All the white characters Easy Rawlins meets are somehow seriously flawed. They are either homosexual, racist gangsters, filthy-rich love-crazed maniacs, teenage bigots, liquour store black market operators, etc. There is not a decent white man among them, and Easy's attitude of self-restraint, although admirable, further paints a dirty picture of the white man. Why can't there be at least one white man that has any admirable characteristics? It makes it seem like Mosely targeted a black audience rather than trying to appeal to all demographics.
<< 1 >>
|
