Guest Review: Devil In A Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

by John W Oliver published: May 4, 2010 No Comments

D is for Devil in a Blue Dress
Guest review by John W. Oliver, Writer.

This Book Is About

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 California. His stint in the Army didn’t do anything to dissuade him from his belief that justice doesn’t come cheap, especially for men like him. “I thought there might be some justice for a black man if he had money to grease it,” Easy says.

Fired from his job on the line at an aircraft plant, he’s in danger of losing his home, symbol of his tenuous hold on middle class status. That’s a good enough reason to accept a white man’s offer to pay him for finding a beautiful, mysterious Frenchwoman named Daphne Monet, last seen in the company of a well-known gangster.

My Thoughts On This Book

I bought my copy of Devil in a Blue Dress when the movie came out–back in 1995. I had always meant to read Walter Mosley’s first book in his Easy Rawlins series, but getting around to doing it took me well over a decade. In the meantime, I have consumed a few of his other books and read a heck of a lot more–both inside and outside of the mystery genre. I have to say, I’m glad I waited because I believe I appreciated the book a lot more now than I would have then.

The book follows Easy Rawlins as he finds himself out of work and hard up for money. When a friend sends a job his way, Easy ends up in a whole lot of trouble.Though not a large novel, I would not call Devil in a Blue Dress a light read. Yes, the story has it’s share of action and dialogue, but the introspective nature of the tale makes it a little denser. And I value the novel for this facet.

At the beginning of the story, Easy is not a detective–private or otherwise. He’s very much an everyman. One who has crawled through the hell of World War Two. He’s easy to relate to and sympathize with, though. As the story progresses, Easy discovers the strength he needs to overcome his obstacles and, during the course of his trials, he figures out a lot about himself.I admire the way Mosley plays all of this out, and how we get to bear witness to how Easy becomes the figure that will lead us through at least eight more books.

Another thing I love about this story is how Mosley sells us Easy’s experience of being an African-American in the 1940s. I’ll never actually know what it was like, but the story immersed me in Easy’s life, giving me a glimmer of his experience. The novel does not pass judgment.It just presents things how they were, interpreted by how Easy perceives them.

In the end, Devil in a Blue Dress is all about the characters. Taking Mosley’s other books into consideration, character is the focus of many of the stories; he gets into their heads and lives and shows us how they tick and why. And you can’t help appreciating watching his characters tick.