Mosley, Walter

Related Category: American Literature: Biographies

1952–, African-American author, b. Los Angeles. He was a computer programmer until his first novel, the bestselling mystery Devil in a Blue Dress (1990; film, 1995), was published. A noirish tale of the search for a missing blonde in a seedy, corrupt 1948 Los Angeles, it introduces Mosley's smart, decent, and streetwise black detective, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a World War II veteran with a jaundiced view of the racist, money-fueled justice system. Mosely's subsequent mysteries move Rawlins forward in time; they include A Red Death (1991), Black Betty (1994), the short stories of Six Easy Pieces (2003), Little Scarlet (2004), and Cinnamon Kiss (2005). A versatile and prolific author, Mosley has written other mysteries, e.g., Fearless Jones (2001); literary fiction, e.g., RL's Dream (1995) and Fortunate Son (2006); science fiction, e.g. Blue Light (1998) and Futureland (2001); and nonfiction, e.g., Workin' on the Chain Gang (2000) and Life Out of Context (2006).

See C. E. Wilson, Jr., Walter Mosley: A Critical Companion (2003).