Mosley, Walter (1952-…), an African American author, became known for his historical detective stories about a Black private investigator named Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins. Mosley sets the series in Los Angeles from the late 1940’s to the early 1970’s. The novels are known for their gritty realism and re-creation of Los Angeles and its racial tensions after the end of World War II (1939-1945).
Rawlins and his friend Raymond “Mouse” Alexander first appeared in Devil in a Blue Dress (1990). The series also includes A Red Death (1991), White Butterfly (1992), Black Betty (1994), A Little Yellow Dog (1996), Gone Fishin’ (1997), Bad Boy Brawly Brown (2002), the short story collection Six Easy Pieces (2003), Little Scarlet (2004), Cinnamon Kiss (2005), Blonde Faith (2007), Little Green (2013), Rose Gold (2014), Charcoal Joe (2016), Blood Grove (2021), and Farewell, Amethystine (2024). In 1995, Devil in a Blue Dress was made into a film starring Denzel Washington.
Mosley has also written several novels set in Los Angeles in the 1950’s about tough Fearless Jones and his timid friend Paris Minton. The series began with Fearless Jones (2001). The group of related short stories in Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (1997) and the novels Walkin’ the Dog (1999) and The Right Mistake (2008) feature a philosophical ex-convict named Socrates Fortlow. Mosley also has written two series about New York City private investigators: the “Leonid McGill” series, beginning with The Long Fall (2009); and the “King Oliver” series, beginning with Down the River Unto the Sea (2018).
In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2010), Mosley departed from his detective story format to write about an elderly Black man struggling to live in modern Los Angeles. Mosley has also written science fiction and nonfiction. Mosley was born on Jan. 12, 1952, in Los Angeles.
