Walter Mosley - Page 1
Hardback
Weidenfeld & Nicholson
(2005) |
 |
Cinnamon Kiss
It is the Summer of Love as Cinnamon Kiss opens, and Easy Rawlins is contemplating robbing an armoured car Its further outside the law than Easy has ever travelled, but his daughter Feather needs a medical treatment that costs far more than Easy can earn or borrow in time. And his friend Mouse tells him it’s a cinch.
Then another friend, Saul Lynx, offers a job that might solve Easy’s problem without jail time. He has to track the disappearance of an eccentric, prominent attorney. His assistant of sorts, the beautiful ‘Cinnamon’ Cargill, has gone as well. Easy can tell there is much more than he is being told - Robert Lee. his new employer, is as suspect as the man who disappeared. But his need overcomes all concerns, and he plunges into unfamiliar territory, from the newfound hippie enclaves to a vicious plot that stretches back to the battlefields of Europe. The New York Times said of this novel’s bestselling predecessor, Little Scarlet. ‘Nobody, but nobody, writes this stuff like Mosley’. Cinnamon Kiss is further proof that he is the absolute master of crime fiction.
Acclaim for Little Scarlet
‘Little Scarlet is a masterwork. Walter Mosley is one of America’s most exciting, incisive writers’ George Pelecanos
‘Mosley has a unique voice that remains fresh, and he tells a damn good story. Little Scarlet is a compelling portrait of a painful era, peopled by living, breathing, unforgettable characters. This may be Walter Mosley’s best.’ Jonathan Kellerman
‘One of America’s most gifted writers, of any genre… Mosley’s mastery of authentic dialogue is matchless’ Marcel Berlins, The Times
|
First British Edition Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2005) |
|
Little Scarlet
Just after devastating riots tear through Los Angeles in 1965 - when anger is high and fear still smoulders everywhere - the police turn up at Easy Rawlins’ doorstep. He expects the worst, as usual. But they’ve come to ask for his help.
A man was wrenched from his car by a mob at the riots’ peak and escaped into a nearby apartment building. Soon afterward, a redheaded woman known as Little Scarlet was found dead in that building - and the fleeing man is the obvious suspect.
But the man has vanished.
The police fear that their presence in certain neighbourhoods could spark a new inferno, so they ask Easy Rawlins to see what he can discover. The vanished man is the key, but he is only the beginning. Easy enlists the help of his longtime friend Mouse to break through the shroud. And what Easy finds is a killer whose rage, like that which burned in the city for weeks, is intrinsically woven around deep-set passions-feelings echoed within Easy himself.
Rawlins’ hunt for the killer reveals a new city emerging from the ashes, with the promise of a new life for Easy, Mouse and his old friends Jackson Blue and Jewelle. Walter Mosley’s lean and musical vernacular captures the heat and the rhythm of Los Angeles’ heart, where danger is the common currency of everyday life. Little Scarlet is further proof that Mosley is ‘a master of mystery’ (New York Times Book Review).
| British Pbk Original - Serpents Tail (2003) |
 |
Fear Itself
Paris Minton is a man who would just as soon walk away from trouble as stand up to it. But in 1950s Los Angeles, sometimes trouble just comes and gets you. Fearless Jones shows up at Paris Minton’s door one night with a simple request: an attractive woman has asked him to help find her husband, a man Fearless worked for briefly. The next day, another stranger shows up at Paris’s door, asking after the same man. A few short questions later, Paris is running for his life, tangled up with one of the wealthiest women in LA and wondering who he should fear more - the people he’s looking for or the people he’s working for. One misstep at a time, he tumbles into the most complex and terrifying situation he’s ever found - one that even his friend Fearless may not be able to save him from…
Praise For Walter Mosley
‘Simply the best crime writer around today. One of the joys of Mosley’s writing is the ease that characterises every aspect of it ...The characters live and breathe in a way that is utterly convincing and absorbing’ Guardian
‘Accept the official verdict: Mosley is a great and important writer’ Independent
`His work grows in stature and appeal with every book’ The Times
`Majestic’ Time Out
‘Mosley is surely the finest writer of dialogue alive today’ Uncut
‘Formulas are not necessarily a bad thing in fiction. Just as in the distilling of good whiskey, a book brewed along the lines of a tested scheme can be a pleasure indeed. More than any crime writer working today, Walter Mosley has hit upon just such a winning recipe ...a unique blend of racial politics and masterful suspense’ Sunday Times
| Paperback - Phoenix (2004) |
 |
Bad Boy Brawly Brown
Following the death of his homicidal crony, Raymond ‘Mouse’ Alexander, Easy Rawlins has settled into honest work in downtown Los Angeles. Then one morning his old friend John shows up at his door, looking for the kind of help only Easy can provide.
John’s stepson, Brawly Brown, has joined a group of black revolutionaries called The First Men, and John is worried that the group is more dangerous than it seems. Easy agrees to help, but on his first day on the job he stumbles across the boy’s father - murdered - and soon he’s dodging police and gangsters in his attempt to save the young man’s life.
‘Easy Rawlins has become one of the major figures of modern crime fiction’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Less of a whodunit, more a moody slice of Afro-American culture. Don’t miss it’ Daily Mirror
‘A compelling mystery on many levels that weaves through the undergrowth of American history and morality’ Guardian
| Paperback - Phoenix (2004) |
 |
|
First British Edition Serpents Tail (2001) |
|
Fearless Jones
Fearless Jones debuts a new crime series set in 1950s L.A., featuring the most engaging hero since Easy Rawlins.
Paris Minton is minding his own businesses - a small secondhand bookstore - when a beautiful woman walks in and asks a few questions. Before he knows it, Paris has been beaten up, slept with, shot at, robbed, and his bookshop has been burned to the ground. He’s in so much trouble he has no choice but to get his friend Fearless Jones out of jail to help him.
Things quickly get scary as Paris and Fearless look into the woman’s past. And the more they learn, the harder it gets: as black men in ‘50s L.A. they have few rights, little money, and no recourse under attack.
Fearless Jones is written with the dazzling pace of noir classics such as The Maltese Falcon, but with the humour and insights into American times, places and morals that confirm Waiter Mosley’s place amongst the greats of contemporary American writers.
`Fans starved for the mean streets of Watts during Mosley’s sabbatical from mystery writing will rejoice in a prose style richer and more artfully stripped down than ever in the genre’s first must-read of the year’ Kirkus Reviews
`Fearless Jones is Mosley’s return to crime writing, and he slips back into the habit like a thirsty man taking a long cool drink... the countless twists make the novel as entertaining as the best Bogart thrillers’ Guardian
‘Sexy and oozing attitude, this is so cool it even makes Shaft look sad’ Mirror
‘His fast paced narrative, sharp dialogue and dry humour make this a compelling read, and one which does Chester Himes’ tradition proud’ Metro
‘This is classic noir territory, filled with unintentional heroes with the best intentions and dangerous dames; best of all are the rhythms and cadences of language on the page. A class act’ Time Out
‘Mosley’s back on irresistible form with a new hero, a new series and a book to buy, beg, borrow or steal ... Prose that flows like a combination punch. Nobody does it better’ Literary Review
‘A slick, expressive narrative so atmospheric you can almost see the sweat drip from their brows and smell the cordite from the spent bullet cases’ The List
About The Author
Walter Mosley, recipient of the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, was born in Los Angeles in 1952. He has twice been nominated for the Golden Dagger and Edgar awards and, in 1991, was awarded the John Creasey Prize for Devil in a Blue Dress. In 1998, Walter Mosley was awarded the TransAfrica International Literary Prize for the entirety of his work. He lives in New York.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
Cinnamon Kiss
(Weidenfeld & Nicholson,
2005)
Little Scarlet
(Weidenfeld & Nicholson,
2005)
(Easy Rawlins)
The Man in My Basement
(
2004)
Six Easy Pieces
(
2003)
(Easy Rawlins)
Fear Itself
(Serpents Tail Pbk,
2003)
(Fearless Jones)
Bad Boy Brawly Brown
(
2002)
Phoenix Pbk Apr 04
(Easy Rawlins)
Fearless Jones
(Serpents Tail,
2001)
Phoenix Pbk Apr 04
Whispers in the Dark
(
2000)
The Greatest
(
2000)
Walkin' the Dog
(
1999)
Serpents Tail Apr 00
Serpents Tail Pbk Nov 02
(Socrates Fortlow)
Blue Light
(
1998)
Pbk Sep 00
Always Outnumbered Always Outgunned
(Serpents Tail,
1997)
Serpents Tail Pbk 1998
(Socrates Fortlow)
Gone Fishin'
(
1996)
Serpents Tail Pbk 1998
(Easy Rawlins)
A Little Yellow Dog
(Serpents Tail,
1996)
Picador Pbk 1997
(Easy Rawlins)
RL's Dream
(
1995)
Black Betty
(
1994)
(Easy Rawlins)
White Butterfly
(
1992)
(Easy Rawlins)
A Red Death
(
1991)
Serpents Tail Pbk May 04
(Easy Rawlins)
Devil in a Blue Dress
(
1990)
(Easy Rawlins)
Cinnamon Kiss
WebPage: 
by Walter Mosley
