It’s 1948 in Los Angeles, and Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins needs to make a mortgage payment. Too bad all he has in his pocket is lint. Along comes a savior, looking like a devil and talking like a devil, but offering Easy the precious cash he needs. The man has one simple request: find the woman wearing the blue dress in a photograph. But Easy knows that you get what you pay for in this world, and the man wouldn’t be paying so much if it were that easy. Life is tough. But so are Easy Rawlins and his wild helpmate, Mouse. This “richly atmospheric” (Los Angeles Times Book Review) novel, winner of the 1990 Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America, is now a major 1995 motion picture from TriStar (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112857/?ref_=sr_1), starring Denzel Washington as resourceful detective Easy Rawlins. Available on DVD at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devil-Blue-Dress-Denzil-Washington/dp/B000A52AJY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376648423&sr=8-2&keywords=devil+in+a+blue+dress
Walter Mosley
215 pages in Pocket Books paperback edition.
ISBN 9780671511425