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+