Devil in a blue dress by Walter Mosley

Hard-boiled detective fiction with a new slant - a black man in LA in the late 40s after the war. Trained as a machinist, Ezkeiel Rollins (known as EZ or Easy) after losing his job, takes on finding a white girl who likes to hang out in black clubs. What seems like simple and easy money turns into a nest of corruption and murder with the mayor's office as the prize.

2021 review:
I forgot how bananas the plot gets around page 110 or so. Easy's internal observations especially in the first part of the book are phenomenal, but the action scenes, character development, and sex-adjacent plots were a bit much. Bumping down to 3 stars.

2017 review:
4 stars. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes or are a more recent fan of Joe Ide's Isaiah Quintabe novels, pick up the first volume in the Easy Rawlins series. Based in L.A., Easy gets pulled into a seemingly simple task that becomes more more involved. The bodies pile up. But what's really at play?

To be honest, I didn't love the actual plot of this story. I felt like it was overly complicated and involved too many nefarious would-be villains but for a seemingly simple end. However, I loved Easy Rawlins as a character - his insights on things, his pride over his home, and his complicated back story in Houston and as a former WWII GI.

Taut, propulsive storytelling. Mosley knows exactly how to convey the most information with the fewest words and I really need to read more of his stuff.

A really enjoyable read. Great description of post war America and racial issues that existed. A real page turner following the exploits of Easy Rawlins. Highly recommended.