Little Scarlet: An Easy Rawlins Novel by Walter Mosley Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.00 You Save: $5.50 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Little Scarlet: An Easy Rawlins Novel
Book Review: One Dead Woman
Summary: 5 Stars
Racial tension has divided the citizens of California during one of modern America's most tumultuous times, the 1965 Watts Riot. Surrounded by destruction and fueled by despair, the story of Nola Payne, aka Little Scarlet, unfolds. She is a Black woman believed to have been victimized by a White man during the riots. Fearing further uprising, the police attempt to conceal the murder of Nola Payne, and enlist the help of Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins. They come to him because he has the ability to investigate freely in areas where the police are enemy number one.
Easy Rawlins is determined to find the true killer, because he understands, all too well, how the Police Department will disregard the life of a Black woman. Since Easy is in the business of doing favors, he calls on the homicidal Mouse and the intelligent, but cowardly Jackson Blue to help in the investigation. With these two colorful characters, Easy finds himself in uncomfortable situations, but they come through for him every time.
I was so engrossed in the story it was over before I knew it. It captured my attention from beginning to end. I was excited at the climax of the novel and felt a rush of adrenaline when Easy believes he has solved the crime. Mosley fans will not be disappointed with this installment of the Easy Rawlins Mystery series.
Reviewed by Aiesha Flowers
of The RAWSISTAZTReviewers
Book Review: Solid Easy Rawlins Outing
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good solid read, set during the LA riots from the mid-sixties. The characters are nicely fleshed out, and the explorations into race relations are painful and fascinating. The underlying murder plot is almost secondary to the insights of Rawlins on the intermeshed lives of blacks and whites in America. Definitely worth buying in hardcover.Book Review: Walter Mosley: Easy To Like!
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the many gifts of President Bill Clinton was introducing me-- and I suspect many other white readers- to the great mystery writer Walter Mosley. Early in his presidency on a vacation to Martha's Vineyard, the president laden down with books, including Mosley's then latest, as he left a local bookstore, was accosted by the media. (That Mr. Clinton read Mosley comes as no surprise since Toni Morrison has described him as the first black president in America.) So the press wanted to know what Mr. Clinton read for pleasure-- and what a pleasure reading Mr. Mosley is, particularly when he writes of the adventures of the indefatigable Easy Rawlins. He returns here at the time of the Watts race riots in '65 where he is recruited by a detective from the infamous LAPD to help solve the murder of a young black woman, Little Scarlet, who may have ben killed by a white man. Mr. Mosley weaves a complex tapestry here with many characters of all colors, some new of course, and many returning from previous novels, Mouse, Bonnie, Feather, Jesus et al.
As always, Mosley through Rawlings makes cogent statements about race in America. He tackles unflinchingly both self-hatred in the black community and the hierarchy of color there. In the hands of a lesser writer this story would be little more than an angry diatribe about the treatment of blacks by whites in this country; but that does not happen. Mr. Mosley creates black characters who are less than perfect and white ones-- including one from the LAPD-- who are actually decent people. As the writer's fans know already, his prose is as succinct as a grocery list but beautifully descriptive. Rawlins describes his clan as "my beautiful patchwork family." A cook prepares eggs "just an instant past running." A young black man already has the "slouching shoulders of someone who has been defeated by life." I particularly liked Easy's definition of a real cook as someone who can cook up a complete meal in five minute with whatever is available. And when Easy takes an alias, as he often does, he selects names of deceased friends-- because their names are easy to remember and to keep them alive, a beautiful concept and a loving tribute.
The author has never written a better novel. Thank you, Mr. Clinton, and thank you, Mr. Mosley.
Book Review: Easy Rawlins is Back and in Rare Form
Summary: 4 Stars
They're back. Both Easy Rawlins and his sidekick, "Mouse" has delighted fans of Walter Mosley for years and his latest, Little Scarlet, is no exception. It is 1965 and the city of Los Angles has been embroiled in rioting, killing, and other forms of violence in Watts for several days. Now a young black woman is dead and her aunt is insisting that a white man did it. This white man happened to be in Watts at the height of looting and violence where he was dragged from his vehicle and badly beaten. He escaped into a building to the home of the victim. Now the aunt is in a psychiatric facility, supposedly for her own protection and the police are calling on Easy to investigate the allegations.
The police have never been Easy's friend and now they want his help. What's up with that? He knows it is because if the word gets out that a white man killed a black woman, the now dormant riot would explode all over again. With thorough detective work, it does not take long for Easy to track down the mysterious white man. But things are never that easy and Easy is convinced Peter Rhone did not kill Nola Payne AKA Little Scarlet. A mishmash of neighborhood characters provide clues of other possible suspects and with the help of his old friends, Mouse and Jackson Blue, he is off and running. One of his informants is Juanda, a young woman who catches Easy's eye. But he can't go there for he is devoted to Bonnie, his woman of several years. His household is replete with his adopted children, Jesus, now eighteen years old and his daughter, Feather. He owns several properties, has a steady job as a custodian supervisor with the school district and an office in Watts where he conducts his private investigation business. What more could a brother with humble beginnings by way of Louisiana and Texas want? But why is it when a man wants to do right, evil is always present?
Easy's clues lead him to a suspect that the police rejected as a killer two years prior when Easy suspected him. He immerses himself in the homeless world as he looks for the suspect. Now the police are looking into cold cases that turn up more possible victims of this psychotic killer whose M.O. seems to target black women who date men out of their race. The search takes Easy from Watts, to white suburban neighborhoods to seedy homeless shelters, confirming that what we see with our eyes is not necessarily so.
Mosley's prose is witty and serious, at times mystical and seductive. Several mystery writers spin their stories in Los Angeles and capture the excitement and glamour of this city that to this day is entangled in racial tension. Mosley happens to be one of the best, giving his readers a telescopic view of the ways of black and white folks in a landscape of automobiles and folks trying to make it from day to day. Fans will delight in this latest mystery. Keep `em coming Mosley.
Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub
Book Review: Another Mosley Masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
Walter Mosley spins a tale so deftly that the reader soon becomes completely absorbed in the action and the characters surrounding it, and quickly forgets that the printed text is merely a portal linked to the fictional world created by the author's imagination. This eerie effect is experienced even more profoundly in Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries, and LITTLE SCARLET is his best addition yet to this remarkable series.
Although the reader is deprived of ever meeting the woman known as Little Scarlet, her presence looms throughout the novel as Easy is enlisted by the racist and corrupt police department to assist in solving her seemingly senseless murder. During his quest, Easy encounters familiar characters from Mosley's previous works, such as the ever charming and murderous Mouse, the brilliant, but cowardly Jackson Blue, beautiful and loyal Bonnie, and Easy's "adopted" children, Feather and Jesus. A serial killer, carried over from Mosley's last short story collection (which also re-introduced the previously "deceased" Mouse), rears his monstrous head again, although the reader learns a little more about what motivates his conduct and can even empathize with him near the novel's conclusion.
Also present in LITTLE SCARLET are Mosley's trademark wit and inimitable writing style. From his realistic use of street vernacular to his clever turn of a simple phrase, Walter Mosley, easily, is one of the most thought-provoking literary craftsmen of all time. Utilizing Easy's character to seamlessly comment on society's illnesses and illusions while he goes about solving the crime du jour, Mosley's slick and subtle commentary are exemplified by such statements as (in describing a homeless man): "His jeans had been starched by street living and his shirt was a color that no manufacturer could duplicate", and (in characterizing Jackson Blue): "He was a liar by nature and a thief from the first day he could close his hands around some other baby's rattle."
As the novel progresses from the aftermath of the 1965 Watts riots, to the discovery of a deadly presence in the African-American community that the police, ironically, would choose to cover up by sacrificing a possibly innocent white man, many truths are slowly revealed. These revelations occur partly through Easy's tenacious search for justice, aided by his intuitive knowledge of human frailty and the devastating price of self-hatred, and partly due to an unexpected ally who joins the ranks of Easy's usual cohorts. In addition, Easy's ever-burgeoning credentials receive an extra boost by the novel's end, so that the reader can exhale on a note of assurance that there will be many more Rawlins adventures to come.