#ezekiel rawlins

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Men mornin', noon, and night are the bane of women and the joy of their lives.

Walter Mosley, Bad Boy Brawly Brown

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Danielle Ramsay’s favourite detective

My favourite detective is Walter Mosley’s Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins: an African American World War II veteran living and working as a private detective in the Watts area of Los Angeles. It is a profession that he falls into, despite having no formal training, when unfairly sacked from his job. Devil in a Blue Dress is the first book in a series of thirteen that span from 1948 to 1967 and is Mosley at his best. Easy Rawlins is as iconic as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade. However, Easy Rawlins is black, and it is this distinction that adds another dimension to this hardboiled series; evident in Mosley’s use of dialect and his stark insight into the black American experience shown against the backdrop of decades of social and political unrest. Easy Rawlins’ appeal as a protagonist is that his traits make him very human and consequently flawed – at times disappointingly so. But what is so inspiring about Easy is his strength and determination to rise above social expectations and ultimately, his unerring sense of justice.

Danielle Ramsay’s latest book BLOOD RECKONING is out now. 

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Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins (Literature)

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