Devil in a Blue Dress

by Walter Mosley

by
Walter Mosley

book data

1,795 ratings, 3.82 average rating, 132 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		23%
4		41%
3		28%
2		5%
1		0%

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published

June 1993 by Thorndike Pr (first published 1990)

details

Hardcover, 288 pages

literary awards

Shamus Award (1991)

isbn

1560547227 (isbn13: 9781560547228)

description

Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins has few illusions about the world--at least not about the world of a young black veteran in the late 1940s in Southern Ca…more

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Apr 26, 2008

Dfordoom rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: crime-mystery

Read in October, 2006

Devil in a Blue Dress was Walter Mosley’s debut novel. It’s a private eye novel set in Los Angeles in 1948. What makes Devil in a Blue Dress different is that this private eye, Easy Rawlins, is black. In style and in feel it’s very close to Raymond Chandler, and it even follows Chandler in having a plot that is quite amazingly convoluted. Like Chandler Mosley is far more interested in character and in atmosphere than in merely telling a story. He doesn’t write as well as Chandler, bu...more

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Sep 20, 2007

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: fast-fun-and-fabulous

Read in September, 2007

A fantastic noir-novel that tells a classic find-the-dame murder tale while tackling issues of race head on. Easy Rawlins inhabits the same late 40's L.A. that so many classic noir detective do, with one major difference: he's black. Mosley uses his character to explore the inherent racism underlying so many noir novels and, of course, America in general. The book never comes across as preachy, however, and is a perfect example of how a writer can weave a social charged message into a novel ...more

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Mar 28, 2009

Chuck rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in March, 2009

Any mystery novel set in Los Angeles is going to get compared to Raymond Chandler, although Chandler was just pretty much taking Carrol John Daly and transplanting him to LA. I mention this because--historical novel, LA, private eye, noir genre--comparisons to Chandler are natural. But those are surface similarities, genre similarities. In Devil and a Blue Dress, Walter Mosely is doing many new things, things that make it well worth reading.

First, if you've read any of these hard ...more Any mystery novel set in Los Angeles is going to get compared to Raymond Chandler, although Chandler was just pretty much taking Carrol John Daly and transplanting him to LA. I mention this because--historical novel, LA, private eye, noir genre--comparisons to Chandler are natural. But those are surface similarities, genre similarities. In Devil and a Blue Dress, Walter Mosely is doing many new things, things that make it well worth reading.

First, if you've read any of these hard boiled detective novels, you'll probably note that the main character is pretty static--already fully formed, wise cracking, morally centered on a personal code of contact, brave and resourceful. They don't change through the course of the novel, and, if there's a series, they don't change novel to novel. They are the western gunfighter, imposing order (through force) on a threating world, only the "range" they "ride" is the mean streets of an urban setting. This is true of Carrol John Daly's Race Williams, Dashiel Hammett's Sam Spade, Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and Robert B. Parker's Spenser (my favorite mystery sereis of all time).

But Easy Rawlins', Mosley's protagonist, is much more fully developed. He's a laid off aircraft worker trying to meet the mortgage on his home. He's from Houston and was part of the post-World War II migration of African Americans to to urban areas out of the South (the novel is set in 1948)--not a licensed private eye.

He is also fearful--of being killed by white cops, of some of his own friends, and of the fact that, even back then, someone minding his own business could be randomly killed in South LA. But he won't let himself be dominated by his fears, refusing to cower before powerful white men who try to force him into subservience, or to black men to whom violence is a casual companion. He faces the fears and does what he thinks is best regardless--being afraid and facing that fear is perhaps more brave than the bravado one sees in other hard-boiled detectives.

He is also unsure how to act. Whereas the other detective's unswerving moral code acts like a computer, spitting out the "right" answer, Easy has to think about what's going on, mull over decisions, and try and figure out what's "best." Often, there's no "good" answer, and he must choose between two bad choices and try and figure out which will do the least damage to the fewest people. Easy tries to do the right thing, but the world he lives in a far less clear cut than those of some other hard boiled detectives. He's also flawed and occassional makes mistakes, often when he's angry or tired--making him a character that more readers can relate to.

He also doesn't wise crack. It would not have been plausible for Easy to talk the way Philip Marlow (Chandler's here) did, smarting off to cops, teaking gangsters, baiting everyone. The social forces exerted on black men in 1948 were far different from those on white men (as they are today). That doesn't mean Easy isn't aumusing or that there isn't snappy dialogue (but a lot of it is internal, what he's thinking rather than what he says). I mention this because the "wise cracking private eye" is an expected part of the hard boiled genre, and this aspect of Easy's character is another way that the Easy Rawlins series isn't just another Chandler knock-off.
e
However, violence is the thing that makes the Easy series the most unique I've read. The private eye's world is always a dark, dangerous place, but it's largely violence that the private eye seeks out. But Easy's whole world is dangerous; he fled Houston because he was implicated in a murder a friend had committed; in the Today of the novel, men with guns and knives are a daily part of life.

Easy, however, doesn't carry a gun. With other private eyes, the gun is more than an accessory, it's a sidekick, a main character in the book. Race Williams always mentions his forty-four, and Spenser talks about dressing warm so his bullets won't get cold. But Easy doesn't "pack," and he only has a gun in his hand in one sequence in the novel. He also doesn't kill any one--most private eyes wind up shooting the bad buys. People get dead at the end of Devil in a Blue Dress, but it isn't easy who does the killing.

It's not becuase Easy is squeamish. He's a World War II vet who saw a great deal of combat; he's haunted at night by the faces of the men he's killed. But he doesn't carry a gun and, at least in the first novel in the series, he doesn't kill anyone (this is only the first I'v read, so I can't speak beyond it).

The African-American world of post-War Los Angeles. It's a mix of people from all over the country, all of whom have different reasons for having come to LA. It's a world of family men and working class people trying to get by, and of gangsters and hoods, and of white people who go into these neighborhoods for reasons that rarely benefit the people who live there.

Mosleys' writing is clear, engaging, and is rich in meaning while at the same time a "Fast read." I just read Parker's most recent Spenser novel a couple of weeks ago, and it dawned on me that one of the reasons I love those books is because Spenser, Hawk, and Susan never change--they are old friends I can count on. But the fact that Easy DOES change is the reason I LIKE Devil in a Blue Dress. Looks like I've made another 'friend.'(less)

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Jul 11, 2009

Bettie rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: fraudio, mystery-thriller, published-1992

Read in July, 2009

Now to watch the film, it's cued up on the player so it's feet up with popcorn time. Whee!

Walter Mosley's thriller, read by Paul Winfield.

Devil in a Blue Dress is a 1990 hardboiled mystery novel by Walter Mosley, the first of his mystery novels featuring Easy Rawlins, a black private detective in post-World War II Southern California.

The novel addresses issues of race and gender, as well as the post-war condition of black Americans. The plot ...more

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8 comments

Feb 28, 2009

Lee rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

While the Easy Rawlins series could easily be dismissed as simple detective fiction it transcends, for me, such simple classification. Walter Mosley, in the spirit of Chester Himes shows the inequality that individuals face in America (and the world really) if they are seen as liminal. Easy Rawlins must rely on the relationships he has acquired as an African-American transplant from Texas to Los Angeles do his work. Relationships are often strained as a result and trouble arises not just from as...more

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Feb 16, 2009

Hank Mishkoff rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in February, 2009

Is it fair to criticize a book because it's not as good as the movie that was based on the book? After all, if the filmmakers didn't have the book as source material, there wouldn't have been a move at all.

But having said that, I have to tell you that I was disappointed in "Devil" because it wasn't nearly as good as the film and I find that I'm unable to unlink them in my mind.

The book is good, interesting to read, fast paced. But although the same characters ap...more

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Jun 17, 2009

Ross Burton rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in May, 2004

The power and precision of the writing is what first won me over - there's a bit when a white man, DeWitt Allbright, walks in to a black bar; he walks in, stands just inside the door, Mosley writes "...he had all the time in the world" and with these words you can sense, understand the moment and almost experience it yourself.

As a series of books, the Easy Rawlins novels are a complex of Californian tragedies and have no equal, to my mind, in charting the descent of ane ma...more

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Mar 03, 2009

Frank Roberts rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

This book introduces Mosley's Easy Rawlins, one of the best fictional - what do I call him: Detective? Fixer? Knight? Guy mixed up in a whole lotta stuff not his own doing? I would put him in the same league as Travis Magee or Doc Ford - guys who do sometimes quixotic work to help people (and, sometimes do it for money, too). This series really gives insight into the African American experience during the 40s through the 60s - Mosley has the character age and change over time, an enjoyable c...more

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Jul 30, 2008

Dale rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in August, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The "Beach Books On A Bus" endeavor rolls on!!!

I have to confess that this book was a bit of a let-down. I liked it well enough to give it 3 stars, but that mostly reflects the fact that it was a pleasant read for killing time. The things about the book that I found interesting were mostly incidental, and when I finished it I was left feeling like the whole didn't add up to much. If I had actually been reading this book on a beach, instead of as a captive commuter, I mi...more The "Beach Books On A Bus" endeavor rolls on!!!

I have to confess that this book was a bit of a let-down. I liked it well enough to give it 3 stars, but that mostly reflects the fact that it was a pleasant read for killing time. The things about the book that I found interesting were mostly incidental, and when I finished it I was left feeling like the whole didn't add up to much. If I had actually been reading this book on a beach, instead of as a captive commuter, I might never have finished it; on vacation I probably could have found better things to do.

Devil in a Blue Dress is the story of Easy Rawlins, an African-American WWII veteran who transplanted himself from the South to L.A. to start a new life. He loses his job and is in danger of losing his house, and then is approached to do some shady work for quick cash. He ends up embroiled in some sinister plots and has to solve a few mysteries to essentially reclaim his life.

Positives for the book: Easy is a likable guy, you can't help rooting for him. And through him I got a strong picture of life in segregationist mid-20th C. America. The book is written in first person, which makes everything immediate and visceral. I also thoght it was interesting that Easy's big motivation through the whole story was getting together enough money to pay his mortgage. He didn't want to get filthy rich, he wasn't looking to settle a personal score, he wasn't working for hire because his sick grandmother in the hospital needed an operation - he just wanted his little patch of property to call his own, his slice of the American Dream (extra resonant in these days of the woeful housing market, as well).

Negatives for the book: way too many characters, none of which are sketched out very fully, so that any of them can do anything to advance the plot. A couple of characters are eventually revealed to be cousins - they have the same last name, but at that point I was losing track of everyone anyway. The plot was fairly confusing in addition to being overpopulated; I'm not sure I could explain the whole thing if I tried. Also, for such a convoluted plot, Easy doesn't do much in it so much as get bounced around by outside forces. There are a couple of glaring moments of deus ex machina where Easy should probably be dead, but his borderline-psychopath old friend from back home Mouse shows up, waves his gun around, and saves Easy's bacon. And finally, there's a "bombshell" revelation towards the end of the book - which really had no impact on me, because it's just a watered-down version of the bombshell revelation from the end of Chinatown.

I really think I have a hard time with mysteries in general, in terms of satisfying my own expectations. I want a mystery to have a logical progression from impenetrable to obvious, with everything making sense in hindsight. Obviously this is a difficult line to walk: if things become obvious too soon and the reader figures out the mystery too quickly, the protagonist looks stupid and the book suffers; if things stay too impenetrable then it can seem like the writer was cheating by leaving out or overly distorting information all along. Devil in a Blue Dress seemed more concerned in evoking the specifics of jazz club 50's west coast culture and race relations - which it did very well - rather than setting up and resolving questions of who killed who - which didn't really work for me.
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Jan 28, 2008

Guy rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in August, 2007

Devil In A Blue Dress (1990) van Walter Mosley. Waarschijnlijk is dit z’n bekendste boek, al zal dat vooral het gevolg zijn van de (middelmatige) erop gebaseerde film met Denzel Washington van een paar jaar later. Nochtans is dit debuut wel degelijk de moeite, al valt het bezwaarlijk innoverend of opwindend te noemen. Mosley neemt plaats in een traditie van hard-boiled crime fiction, en sluit zowel stilistisch als met een heel pak thematische motieven (een verdwijning, een femme fatale, rokeri...more Devil In A Blue Dress (1990) van Walter Mosley. Waarschijnlijk is dit z’n bekendste boek, al zal dat vooral het gevolg zijn van de (middelmatige) erop gebaseerde film met Denzel Washington van een paar jaar later. Nochtans is dit debuut wel degelijk de moeite, al valt het bezwaarlijk innoverend of opwindend te noemen. Mosley neemt plaats in een traditie van hard-boiled crime fiction, en sluit zowel stilistisch als met een heel pak thematische motieven (een verdwijning, een femme fatale, rokerige jazzclubs, etc) aan bij de blauwdrukken die eerder vastgelegd werden door Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett en Ross MacDonald.

Wat Mosley echter onderscheidt van de concurrentie en wat de roman uiteindelijk ook z’n eigen karakter geeft, is zijn Afro-Amerikaanse identiteit. Er zijn sowieso al weinig zwarte Amerikaanse misdaadschrijvers (al is dat eigenlijk een gok, omdat ik naast Mosley enkel iets van Chester Himes gelezen heb), en schrijven vanuit “the black experience” is eerder ongewoon in misdaadliteratuur. Ironisch genoeg lijkt Devil In A Blue Dress daarmee een voorbode te zijn voor de recente romans van (de blanke) George Pelecanos, die in boeken als Hard Revolution ook terugkeerde naar een tijd van raciale spanningen en een behoorlijk controversieel politiek geladen werkstuk afleverde.

Meer nog dan een roman over een tijdperk (i.c. het naoorlogse Los Angeles) is Devil In A Blue Dress echter een portret van een individu – loner Ezekiel ‘Easy’ Rawlins - die het illegale circuit in gedwongen wordt en zo tegen wil en dank een private eye wordt. Rawlins is een geloofwaardig, complex personage dat, opgejaagd door een verleden als oorlogsveteraan, zijn Texaanse roots ontvluchtte en met een forse dosis bindingsangst naar het enorme L.A. trok. Net als zoveel (anti-)helden blijkt hij al snel een wandelend rampgebied te zijn. Waar hij ook gaat vallen er doden, wordt hij het slachtoffer van een op dat moment nog erg voelbaar racisme, of komt hij in contact met L.A.’s vuilste gespuis.

Mosley schrijft droog, met de cool van klassieke noir, maar kruidt het met zwarte slang doorspekte dialogen die de stijl en sfeer en gepaste realistische gruizigheid meegeven. De plotwendingen zijn nergens verrassend, maar dat schaadt niet, omdat de waarde van het boek vooral schuilt in de innerlijke conflicten van Easy Rawlins. (***1/2)

Opmerkelijk #1: sinds dit debuut schreef Mosley (die o.m. ook de liner notes schreef bij het verzamelwerk And It’s Deep, Too! van Afro-Amerikaans icoon Richard Pryor) bijna dertig (!) boeken, waaronder een tiental Rawlins-boeken. Indrukwekkend.

Opmerkelijk #2: Mosley houdt van kleurensymboliek: de eerste drie delen - Devil In A Blue Dress, A Red Death en White Butterfly verwijzen naar blauw, rood en wit, de ‘Amerikaanse’ kleuren. Latere delen zijn o.m. Black Beauty en A Little Yellow Dog.

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Nov 14, 2008

Ryan Mishap rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: mystery-crime

Read in January, 2006

I was excited to check out this beloved series. Parts of it are great--the setting, the time period, Easy Rawlins way of helping people in the community with difficult problems, the clear-eyed view of the racism and brutality of cops. The mystery, here, though relies on inexplicable actions by a femme fatale. I know, they don't need reasons, their just sexist props for the male detective to have his ego bruised against, but still...female detective authors can write realistic male characters so ...more

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Jan 08, 2010

Salina rated it:

(review of isbn 0671740504)

Read in December, 2009

I enjoyed the way the author was able to describe the context of his protagonist, Easy Rawlins, so easily for me. The locations, the motivations the mind and world that he inhabited was brought to life in so many subtle ways. I would recommend this book if you are looking for some light detective fiction. I am considering reading the 2nd of the Easy Rawlins series.

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Feb 04, 2008

Seth rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in January, 2008

I read this book because I read an interview with this guy Colson Whitehead and he was asked how he figured out how to plot his novels and he said he'd read, like, ten Walter Mosley novels in a row and in that way figured out how to do plot. That sounded like a sound enough strategy and so I bought this for three dollars at a used-book store near my job. I liked how straight-ahead this book is. The plot just goes (although the specifics of what happened--who's dead, who's got information on who,...more

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Jul 29, 2009

Parallax added it (review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: -fiction, 2009-read, author-poc, fiction--poc, mystery

Read in August, 2009

1950s hardboiled L.A. is different for a black male P.I. and is even more dangerous than for his white male Chandler-esque counterpart. Not only is everyone up to something, it takes more effort to keep what little you have, the cops will take you down to the station without telling you what you're in for, and your friends and allies can be just as dangerous as your enemies.

Mosley also writes good, distinct dialogue.

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Jan 19, 2010

Jain rated it:

(review of isbn 0671740504)

bookshelves: 2010-reads, american-literature, fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, poc-author

Read in January, 2010

As a work of historical fiction about a black man in 1940s Los Angeles, this book is fine. As a mystery, I found it uninspired. This may just be an issue of genre: I tend to prefer armchair detectives. But the resolution felt unsatisfying, and several of the characters' motivations weren't really explained adequately.

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Jul 16, 2007

Mademoiselle rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in July, 2007

The book is about In post-war Los Angeles, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, an unemployed black WWII veteran doing his best to hold on to his only property – his house. Desperate for money, he agrees to do a little private snooping for this white man who is violent and good-for-nothing. Throughout the novel he is mostly tracking down this woman and he soon discovers that he has a knack for the work. The book was such a success that he created a series of which, according to Wikipedia, Bill Clinton ...more

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May 04, 2009

King Dinösaur rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: crime-thriller, mystery

Read in May, 2009

Absolutely wonderful noir set in 1948 Los Angeles and full of compelling and interesting characters. I needed to read a Mosley book because I read his "This Year You Write Your Novel" book and had to know if his advice was worth it or not. Heh. It is! I will definitely be checking out more Easy Rawlins mysteries.

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Mar 29, 2008

Dan rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

bookshelves: 2008

Read in March, 2008

fun, clever and a quick read. this could pretty convincingly be described as a cross between native son and a dashiell hammett novel. i found the first half particularly effective-- getting to know the peripheral characters, and getting a general sense of the times (poor black los angeles in the late 40's). mosley's ability to allow a sense of racial indignation overlap with the typical hard-boiled stuff is quite impressive. the political resonance is refreshingly effortless. for my money, the s...more

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Dec 01, 2009

Paul Dinger rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in December, 1993

This was a real page turner as are all of Mosley's books. Easy Rawlins doesn't solve a case as much as he wreaks havoc in a very Hammett way. These books pay more than passing homage to the master, especially the Maltese Falcon where the aim is to come out on top not solve the crime.

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Apr 23, 2009

Lou rated it:

(review of isbn 0743451791)

Read in April, 2009

Recommended by a friend. Easy Rawlins and his sidekick/buddy Mouse are quite a pair. Lots of gratuitous murder, mayhem. Excellent for a series first. Characters remind me of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux although I thing Rawlins predates Robicheaux.

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