ALL I DID WAS SHOOT MY MAN by Walter Mosley

GRADE: C+

*Book 4 of the Leonid McGill series*

A nifty little title. I like it. It refers to NY private detective Leonid McGill's new "client(?)" Zella Grisham, who recently served 8 years for not only shooting her boyfriend, but for being involved in a major robbery. As usual, Leonid is feeling the need to atone for past sins. Leonid is the one that planted the false evidence that implicated Zella in the heist. Now he means to get to the bottom of who was really behind it. 

*Yawn*

The only thing cool about the plot is the title. One of the big issues here is that not only is that plot terribly boring, but Mosley also stacks too many other equally uninteresting mysteries, essentially weakening the effect of all of them. This seems to be a trademark in this series. It got to a point where I stopped caring about all the little issues that Leonid had to deal with. As a matter of fact it seemed like Mosley didn't really care that much either. It felt as if he just really enjoys writing these characters and, because he has the reputation of being a mysteries writer, felt as if he needed to come up with some thin mysteries to frame his characters around. The character that jump starts the whole story, Zella, is barely even shows up in the book! I've been noticing this trend of boring plots a lot in many detective stories and I'm getting a little tired of it. Don't get me wrong, character is very important, but there needs to be something else going on to keep me reading about the same people every book, and this series is getting a bit repetitive. This low rating might be a product of just getting tired of reading forgettable crime fiction.

That might be why I enjoy noir fiction over detective crime. The characters are sometimes more flawed and more engaging, and the plots and concepts are a lot more fresh and urgent. But don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan of Mosley, but after catching up with this series after I read the next book, I'll focus more on his standalone work. I would've given this book a straight two stars but I wanted to give it a little extra for Mosley's usual good writing.

WHEN THE THRILL IS GONE by Walter Mosley

GRADE: B

*Book 3 of the Leonid McGill series*

I'd read the first two Leonid McGill detective mysteries written by Mosley years back, before I began to write my book opinions down. For some reason I never got around to continuing the series so I decided to try to catch up. From what I remember from the earlier books, the plots were a little unremarkable, as with many detective series. That might have been part of the reason why I wasn't in a rush to read this one. 

 

But this series carries it's strength in depicting Leonid McGill's highly-dysfunctional family life, having to juggle them as skillfully as navigating his dangerous cases as a PI in contemporary New York City. From his brilliant and charismatic son, Twill,  who's just dropped out of high school and always finds his way into trouble, his loveless but devoted marriage to his cheating wife Katrina, his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend Aura, and his shaky relationship with his dead Communist revolutionary father (whose teachings are a constant influence to Leonid), it's a wonder that our hero has any time in the day to actually do detective work.

And in this installment, Leonid is hired by a young steel painter who is scared of being murdered by the psychic superpowers of her billionaire husband, a man who lives in a ranch-style house on the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper.

One of Mosley's strengths is a sensitivity to character and an ability to create very engaging protagonists. Like Easy Rawlins, Leonid is compassionate behind his gruff exterior, with an aching heart for the downtrodden. In this novel you really get a sense of Leonid cultivating a new "family" of misfits from the people in need that he helps along the way. But one of the issues with Leonid is that he always seems to have every resource available to him to solve every problem that comes his way, so he never seems to be in much danger and he never has to work too hard to find clues. That might also be an issue with detective novels set in contemporary times when information is so easy to find. And why are the plots in so many detective series books so damned forgettable?! Is it laziness and dependency on a cool character to carry you through? But anyway, the book is still an enjoyable read and the series is worth a look. And this installment might be the best in the series so far.

A sigh escaped my lips but no one heard, and so no one cared.

ROSE GOLD by Walter Mosley

GRADE: C+

 *Book 13 of the Easy Rawlins Series*

 

Easy Rawlins needs money. Again. This guy can't get a break. Sometimes I wish that this series would just end where Easy acquires a bunch of money, sends Feather off to a good school overseas, retires from running the streets, settles down on farmland out in Ventura somewhere with Bonnie and tend crops on his farm all day. He definitely deserves it. But nope, them's the breaks. Easy seems destined to roam the streets of Los Angeles as a private dick. Money trouble always seems to creep up on him. This time his rental properties need city-required repairs and his adopted daughter Feather has been invited to go to an expensive Ivy prep school. The LAPD stop by his new house just in time to offer him a heap of money to help locate a kidnapped UC Santa Barbara coed that might just turn out to be a Patty Hearst situation.

I'm starting to feel more and more now that Mosley should end this series soon. No, not really, I'd miss Easy too much! But it at least needs an overhaul. It's suffering from what befalls so many other detective series: stale plots. The plots are starting to get repetitive. The last book, Little Green, was also pretty forgettable for this same reason. This book lost any tension it might've had pretty early on, after you discover that there's not much danger. It's disappointing because I think that a Patty Hearst-style kidnapping would be ripe for an engaging story. The series needs to be shaken and spiced up a little bit, the way Mosley did in the great installment Cinnamon Kiss, where Easy had something to really fight for. But, Mosley's great writing, the highly-readable main character, and his motley cast of friends and colleagues introduced in previous novels, are enough to keep me going, despite the yawn-inducing plot.

KILLING JOHNNY FRY by Walter Mosley

GRADE: B-

I've mentioned before that Walter Mosley is probably one of the most versatile authors and consistently puts out solid work in different genres. At the point when this book was released, Mosley was mostly known for his great crime writing and was carving out a cult niche with his thoughtful sci-fi novels. With this book, he did what many would never expect and delved into erotic fiction.

Mild-mannered New York City translator Cordell Carmel is living a good life with his long-term girlfriend Joelle. Until one day he walks into Joelle's apartment and catches her majorly getting her freak on with wanna-be jazz musician John Fry. Without being noticed by them, Cordell walks out, not knowing what to feel. Haunted by the look of something more than ecstasy on Joelle's face, and by the image of Johnny Fry's bright red condom, Cordell decides to keep it to himself, beginning an intense journey of sexual transformation and awakening.

Although this book is definitely not for the prudish, what sets it apart from other erotic stories I've seen is the urgency and emotion in the storytelling and the fact that Mosley creates an awesome character in Cordell, one of the best characters in his work. What struck me the most about Cordell (and what many men can relate to, even though they might not admit it), was his insecurities after witnessing his wife's infidelity, as well as his conflicting feelings about the situation. After catching them, he's not just angry, but he's also confused and horrified to discover that witnessing it has also given him a hard-on, and he's not sure why. He becomes obsessed with a bizarre porno movie about a submissive, cuckolded man that he begins identifies with. There's something so honest about his behavior that touched me deeply. This sexual honesty is something that I almost never see in men, especially those in the black community.

The book is sort of an existential journey for Cordell to heal his sexual insecurity. It is yet another book that I've read this year that reminds me of the criminally under-appreciated movie Eyes Wide Shut (my favorite of Kubrick's). There is lots of hot sex for those interested in that, but much of it is covered with an aura of sadness and melancholy. The book falls apart almost completely in the last third, and it was a bit unbelievable that after Cordell catches Joelle cheating, every woman in the book suddenly reveal themselves to be heavy freaks and try to have sex with him. This caused me to lower it's score a bit, but the Cordell character and the honest and frank look at sexual identity makes this a novel that stuck with me for a while.

JACK STRONG by Walter Mosley

GRADE: C

Walter Mosley is one of the most prolific writers around. By the end of this year alone, he would have released a total of four books, including the e-book, Odyssey, earlier in the year, the well-written and erotic Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore, a new Easy Rawlins mystery coming later this year called Rose Gold, and this one, Jack Strong. Not only does Mosley obviously not sleep, he is constantly challenging himself, and is always intriguing!

This short sci-fi novella is no different. It follows a man with patchwork skin, multi-colored eyes, a middle finger of a black man, and the pinky of a white woman. Well, that's awkward. More importantly, his psyche is comprised of countless personalities (even one that just might be a wolf!) that are constantly rotating in dominance.

This fascinating concept makes way for interesting shifts in point-of-view as well as exciting surprises in Jack's abilities as different personalities come to the surface when needed with a variety of skills. The book is a bit disappointing though because it doesn't feel complete, instead it feels like a couple of chapters of an unfinished novel. Let's hope so, but this failed to make a lasting impression. I'm still a fan though!

*Advanced Copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley for review*

DEBBIE DOESN'T DO IT ANYMORE by Walter Mosley

GRADE: A-

A recurring theme in Walter Mosley's prolific career is an existential reawakening of his main character. Whether it be jilted Cordell Carmell's sexual awakening and subsequent odyssey in the erotic Killing Johnny Fry, 91-year-old Ptolemy reclaiming his life and purpose in The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Socrates Fortlow's musings, or even Easy Rawlins's journey in the later books in his series. His new book with the awesome title, Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore, is in the same vein.

After starring in hundreds of films, super porn-star Debbie Dare has been disillusioned for a long time and is starting to phone it in. Then, one day, not only does she unexpectedly pass out having the most intense orgasm of her life (and first in years) while filming a scene, she also returns home to discover that her husband and an underage girl are both dead in her bathtub after being electrocuted while filming an amateur sex tape. These events rock her world and sets into motion massive changes in her life. 

I really enjoyed this one because of how sympathetic Debbie is as she struggles to figure out how to move on to a next chapter in her life while facing the repercussions her decisions will cause in her financial security, as well as in her relationships with her friends, family, and associates. The other thing that I loved was how non clichéd the relationship between Debbie and her late husband Theon actually was. Once you start to learn more about their past relationship, you discover an imperfect and sometimes raggedy marriage that was also non-judgmental, very supportive, and ultimately truly loving. You get a sense that they couldn't have been more different as people, but were perfect for each other when they needed it.

In the end, it's another great effort by one of my favorite authors and a very moving portrait of a strong heroine who refuses to be a victim and takes control of her life for the first time.


*This was my first Advanced Reading Copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review*

LITTLE SCARLET by Walter Mosley

* Book 9 of the Easy Rawlins series *
 
This was the first Easy Rawlins novel to come close to being as good as the first, Devil In A Blue Dress. The books in between have all been decent, but until now, none have been able to match the urgency and freshness of the first novel. In Little Scarlet, Easy is a changed man after witnessing the violence and destruction during the 1965 race riots in Watts, and he searches for the murderer of a black woman in the riot's aftermath. Using the riots as a setting really upped the ante from the previous novels, giving all of the usual detective stuff way more weight. The city has changed and everytime Easy steps outside you can feel that change and the danger. The series has always also been a look at race relations in the 40's-60's and that theme is made that much more potent in this book. And although the series isn't always stellar, this one really set the standard for higher stakes in the next two really good Easy novels, Cinnamon Kiss and Blonde Faith.

GRADE: B+

THE LAST DAYS OF PTOLEMY GREY by Walter Mosley

GRADE: A

Mosley's consistently eloquent and soulful writing is perfect for this tale told from the point of view of a 91-year old man who is pulled from the depths of dementia in his final days, is inspired to recapture life and love, and ultimately come to grips with painful memories from his past. It was refreshing and eye-opening to follow a protagonist that is almost never featured in books, the extreme elderly. Many of us forget that a man over 90 years old can have the same desires, the same worries, and the same ambitions as the rest of us. And to witness Ptolemy's active transformation and discovery of a new purpose in life was a joy. Wonderful book. Mosley rarely disappoints and deserves much more acclaim.

DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Walter Mosley

GRADE: A

*Book 1 of the Easy Rawlins Series*

This book is firmly on my list of favorite novels, and the beginning to what I believe to be an essential detective series. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is a young black WWII veteran who has lost his job and is eager to jump at an opportunity when a shady white businessman hires him to locate a pretty white woman named Daphne Monet, who is known for gettin' her party on at black nightclubs.

This is not only one of the best debut crime novels, but also features what I think is one of the best series characters, especially in the detective genre. I think that Easy is a wonderful character and dissimilar to other film noir detectives in a number of ways. He is a totally reluctant investigator. He doesn't have an office or a secretary, and proves to be great at the job because of his wits, his relationships, his awareness of race, and being in touch with his community. And you can actually believe why women are attracted to him. It's great witnessing the change in him as he uncovers secrets that he is unprepared for. I love how evocative the book is of 1940's inner city Los-Angeles, especially in the South Central area. It has a complicated and intriguing plot, and because of Walter Mosley's soulful and effortless prose, this detective story never gets boring.

An awesome running start to a wonderful series that evolves in great ways. The series should definitely be read in order but other standout novels in the series include A Little Yellow Dog, as well as the later novels like Little Scarlet, Cinnamon Kiss, and Blonde Faith.