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Devil in a Blue Dress (Paperback)

by Walter Mosley (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Pan Books; New edition edition (5 Jun 1992)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330321145
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330321143
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 1.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 220,904 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #12 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > M > Mosley, Walter
    #91 in  Books > Fiction > World > American > African American

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Product Description

Review

The first of the Easy Rawlins novels. In segregated 1948 Los Angeles, black World War II veteran Easy Rawlins is caught in murderous cross-currents when he undertakes to trace a missing white woman for a fee. A fine sense of the sleazy and sinister, a voice as distinctive as Chandler's. (Kirkus UK)

Raymond Chandler meets Richard Wright in this not-quite-successful first novel set in 1948 L.A. Here, low-key black detective Easy Rawlins, fired from his job at a defense plant, agrees to locate femme fatale Daphne Monet for white gangster DeWitt Albright - and of course Finds more than he bargained for. Although he's the hero of a detective novel, Easy is no detective: his preferred method of investigation is to circulate among his friends - bartender Joppy (who recommends him for the job), boxer-bouncer Junior Fornay, philosophical Odell Jones, sultry Coretta James, and unpredictably violent Raymond (Mouse) Alexander - mentioning Daphne until he links her to hijacker Frank (Knifehand) Green, and then looking for Green with a deal offered by Todd Carter, the strait-laced white banker Daphne ran out on. As Easy moves through his hazy, gritty postwar hell buying drinks and asking questions, the rest of the cast predictably begins to kill each other off and come after Easy, setting the stage for a climactic confrontation between Daphne and Easy - but Daphne's revelations aren't really worth the wait. Good dialogue and some tensely effective scenes - the air crackles whenever Easy goes up against a white man - don't add up to serious competition for Chandler or Wright. Better wait for the movie, or hope for more incisive plotting in the promised sequel. (Kirkus Reviews)


The Times

‘An original, beguiling creation. One of the most impressive first crime novels’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Out-Chandler's the Master, 21 Mar 2002
This review is from: Devil in a Blue Dress (Five star) (Paperback)
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence; he is unquestionably his own man.

Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.

It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.

This book stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Easy Rawlins saga due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challenge anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Out 'Chandler's' The Master, 1 Jan 2003
This review is from: Devil in A Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mysteries) (Paperback)
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence, in that he is unquestionably his own man.

Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.

It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.

This book stands out amoungst the Easy Rawlins saga as a whole due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challange anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Out 'Chandler's' the Master, 1 Jan 2003
This review is from: Devil in a Blue Dress: A Novel (Easy Rawlins Mysteries) (Hardcover)
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright sexy way his character Easy Rawlins swaggers through a story. To describe him though as a black Philip Marlowe would demean his very essence, in that he is unquestionably his own man.

Set in LA in the 50's this is as far from Happy Days as can be. Our anti-hero is a veteran of WWII, who makes occasional reference to his experiences during the conflict, and how they have moulded him. He enjoys hard liquor and harder company, but above all he loves women. They of course land him in more trouble than he can handle, as he sets out to earn a wage as a Private Eye.

It is the truly remarkable skill as a writer that Moseley can take such a seemingly stereo-typical character, and make me as a reader believe in him. His greatest triumph being that by the end of the book I actually cared as to what happened to him as a person, rather than just the story itself.

This book stands out amoungst the Easy Rawlins saga as a whole due to its singular characters, and plot-line. Saying that though, I challange anyone to read it and not be at least tempted to read one other (for which you will be pleasantly rewarded).

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost as good as Chandler
I love the Big Sleep, I've read the book almost as many times as I've seen the film and that's a lot and Devil in a Blue Dress runs it a close 2nd. Read more
Published on 10 April 2007 by T. Josham

3.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Book, But Hardly a Masterpiece
The first Easy Rawlins book is more enjoyable for its physical and cultural setting than it is for its mystery or characters. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2003 by A. Ross

5.0 out of 5 stars A Slumming Angel
This book was our introduction to Ezekiel Rawlins, 'Easy' as his only real friend calls him. It is fast moving and very complex in a bare bones kind of way. Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Out 'Chandler's' The Master
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright... Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2003 by Pulp Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting but unusual detective novel
This is an exciting novel which takes you though the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles post second World War. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2002 by J. Mannion

5.0 out of 5 stars Out-Chandler's the Master
Although the author may tire of such comparisons between himself and the great Raymond Chandler, there is no better way of describing the street-wise, hard-boiled, and downright... Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2002 by Pulp Reader

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