Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley (born January 12, 1952, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is an American author of mystery stories noted for their realistic portrayals of segregated inner-city life.

Mosley attended Goddard College and Johnson State College, and he became a computer programmer before publishing his first novel, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990; film 1995). Set in 1948, the novel introduces Ezekiel (“Easy”) Rawlins, an unwilling amateur detective from the Watts section of Los Angeles. It presents period issues of race relations and mores as the unemployed Rawlins is hired to find a white woman who frequents jazz clubs in Black districts.

In Devil in a Blue Dress and subsequent Rawlins novels, Mosley used period detail and slang to create authentic settings and characters, especially the earnest, complex protagonist, who is continually confronted with personal, social, and moral dilemmas. In A Red Death (1991), set during the McCarthy era, Rawlins is blackmailed by the FBI into spying on a labour union organizer. In White Butterfly (1992) the police call on Rawlins to help investigate the vicious murders of four young women—three Black and one white. Other novels featuring Rawlins included Black Betty (1994) and A Little Yellow Dog (1996). For the publication of Gone Fishin’ (1997), a prequel to Devil in a Blue Dress, Mosley chose a small independent Black publisher, Black Classic Press, over his longtime publisher W.W. Norton. The series continued with Bad Boy Brawly Brown (2002), Little Scarlet (2004), Cinnamon Kiss (2005), and Blonde Faith (2007). Rawlins, ostensibly dead after a car crash at the close of Blonde Faith, was revealed to have survived in Little Green (2013), in which he becomes involved in locating a young man who has disappeared after visiting the Sunset Strip. Later books in the series included Rose Gold (2014), Charcoal Joe (2016), and Blood Grove (2021).

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Mosley’s other novels included RL’s Dream (1995), the story of a dying former blues guitarist (based on Robert Johnson) who is befriended by a young woman, and The Man in My Basement (2004), an examination of wealth, power, manipulation, and shifting relationships. Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (1997; filmed as Always Outnumbered for television, 1998), a collection of stories set in contemporary Watts, features the ex-convict Socrates Fortlow. Mosley returned to the Fortlow character in the stories of Walkin’ the Dog (1999) and in the novel The Right Mistake: The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow (2008).

Mosley revisited the setting of 1950s Los Angeles in the mystery Fearless Jones (2001), introducing timorous bookseller Paris Minton and his roustabout sidekick, the titular Jones. Minton and Jones returned in sequels that included Fear Itself (2003) and Fear of the Dark (2006). The Tempest Tales (2008) centers on a dead man whose refusal to accept St. Peter’s judgment results in his being returned to earth. Mosley adapted the latter work into his first play, The Fall of Heaven, which was staged in 2010. The Long Fall (2009) was the first entry in another mystery series, set in contemporary New York City and featuring private detective (and sometime criminal) Leonid McGill. Mosley chronicled more of McGill’s hard-boiled capers in such works as Known to Evil (2010), All I Did Was Shoot My Man (2012), And Sometimes I Wonder About You (2015), and Trouble Is What I Do (2020). In Parishioner (2012), published as an e-book, Xavier (“Ecks”) Rule, a reformed criminal, is roped into solving a kidnapping that occurred nearly a quarter of a century before. Down the River unto the Sea (2018) centers on a New York City police investigator who tries to rebuild his life after being wrongly convicted of assault.

Mosley also tried his hand at other genres. He essayed science fiction in Blue Light (1998) and Futureland (2001), a group of interlocking stories, and in his Crosstown to Oblivion (2012, 2013) series of novellas. The Awkward Black Man (2020) is a collection of short stories. Nonfiction volumes included Workin’ on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History (2000), What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace (2003), This Year You Write Your Novel (2007), and Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation (2011).