What a spectacular book! I have no idea how Walter Mosley does it! Once again, Walter Mosley has put together another one of his amazing mystery-crime novels, and this time, I think that he has done his absolute best so far. This man simply knows how to write mystery novels, and he does it in a way unlike any other mystery book I have read. This novel, "Black Betty", is part of the "Easy Rawlins Mystery Series", and it is the fourth book in the series. Like his previous books in the series, this one starts out completely different than the others, and has Easy Rawlins doing something far different from fighting crime and solving mysteries. This time, he is just trying to be a good father as his wife had just left him a few years before, and his son, Jesus, has grown to be 15 years old, and his daughter, Feather, has reached the age of 7. His kids have grown-up a lot since the prior book, and he has too, now at the age of a respectable 41. It is 1961, in the era of JFK and MLK, and Rawlins is just trying to find a job and take care of his family after having to move out of his previous home due to his new financial issues. See, Rawlins had owned a bunch of apartments a few years back, but after risking all of his property and money on the hope of becoming rich by investing money into new property, he became virtually bankrupt and in major debt. However, one day, a detective Saul Lynx comes to Rawlins door asking him to return to his old ways of finding missing people in exchange for a few hundred dollars. Rawlins first refuses the offer, even with his financial crisis, but then when Lynx "ups" the offer and tells Rawlins that he will be looking for an old aquaintance of his, Rawlins jumps on the offer. Lynx tells Rawlins the situation and that he will be looking for an Elizabeth Eady (Black Betty), an old friend of Rawlins' when he was young and living in the 9th Ward of Houston. Rawlins begin searching right away, but before he gets too far, his friend, Raymond "Mouse" Alexander, is released from jail, and Easy has to begin juggling keeping Mouse from killing every man that looks at him wrong and trying to find Black Betty. Along the way, Rawlins requires the help of many of his old friends as he tries to get to the bottom of the curious task infront of him, and as he returns to his old ways of finding the information he wants through connections and past relationships. This time around, Rawlins gets caught in the mess and ends up basically having no choice but to find Betty, and like every other time, Rawlins has many run-ins with the law as a black man who is treading in pretty deep water. In this novel, Rawlins goes from rich neighborhoods to poor, from old friends to new friends, from sex relationships to social ones, and from old secrets to new ones. Rawlins gets himself caught-up in many sticky situations, and sometimes you really have to wonder when his luck is going to run out. Once again, there are many twists and turns in this book that keep you alert up until the very end, and sometimes, you have to read things twice (and maybe even three times) before you can fully comprehend what you just read. However, in the end, it is one person who is the center for all of the troubles and grief that all of the characters experience. This book, like all of Mosleys's books, has a theme of overcoming racism, and also strong themes of never giving up and being there for your family and the people that are your real friends. Mosley delivers another one of his powerful books, and I would reccommend this book and series to lovers of Walter Dean Myers literature, fans of African-American literature, and anyone who is looking for a good crime book with lots of action in it. I applaud Mosley once again and give him two thumbs-up for a job well-done.
Walter Mosley manages to be an extraordinarily prolific writer but at the same time one of great quality, who has shown equal facility in tough but politically and socially literate crime writing and also in witty and wise post-modern science-fiction.Black Betty is a fine demonstration of his craft. His particular skill is in weaving the world into his tales. The mystery is well-constructed and satisfyingly tangled, featuring multiple murders, corruption and racial and class divisions. However the central plot is framed both by the atmosphere of early 1960s America with the rise of the civil rights movement confronting old prejudices, and by the dense web of family and social life within the families of ordinary, mainly (but not entirely) black, working class Americans.In theory Easy Rawlins' role in the investigations in which he is involved is limited to where white men fear to tread - the black community. However the networks of corruption and deceit he uncovers inevitably take him outside this world, in this case into the bizarre and emotionally-stunted world of white land-owners and their complicated relationships with their Black and Latino servants, as well as a corrupt and racist police force and legal system.Easy is also personally involved - Elizabeth Eady AKA Black Betty - the woman whose disappearance he is hired to investigate was a teenage crush of his, a woman who inspires obsession in many, which turns out to be her tragedy. At the same time, Easy has to contend with several other difficulties: the release of his psychotic - but often useful - friend, Mouse, from prison, bristling with anger and the need to revenge himself on the man who sent him down; the ongoing silence of his eldest adopted child Jesus, who has chosen not to speak as a result of the trauma and abuse from which Easy rescued him; the suspicious collapse of the real estate businesses in which he has invested his occasional earnings; and various other ongoing personal and social difficulties. Easy Rawlins has a well described and believable, if unconventional, family and a life beyond the crimes he is occasionally employed to solve. He is a fascinating character who has grown with successive novels; full of desire and anger but compassionate, wise and often painfully self-aware.I would rate Black Betty as the best of the Easy Rawlins tales. What is particularly great about it is Easy's story of personal survival and compromise in an unfair world where a black man cannot sit back and enjoy what he has without someone trying to destroy it. Easy does get to the bottom of things, but it is at immense cost to all those involved including himself, and in the case of Mouse - well, as those who know the character will be aware that there is very little in the world that will stop him doing what he has set his mind on.This is ultimately a tale cut about with sadness and rage, and a mighty fine and and jolting read it is too.
What do You think about Black Betty (2002)?
With Black Betty, Mosley delivers what you'd expect from an Easy Rawlins mystery if you came to it having already read a few others such as I had. The crime to be solved is made to seem convoluted but ultimately turns out to be relatively simple. Yet as with each book in this series it isn't really about the plot. It's about Easy's singular way of seeing and evaluating and dealing with the people he encounters along the way, his perspective on a period of time that seems both long ago and immediate. His character is further fleshed out with each novel, and going along for the ride with him on the particular case he's working on is always a pleasure. If you enjoy the writing of Raymond Chandler you'll probably enjoy that of Walter Mosley and vice versa, only with Mosley you get an added dose of social commentary, not to mention Easy's psychotically entertaining buddy, Mouse.
—Roy
Walter Mosley is a Goodreads experience for me. Never heard of him and never would have except for GR. He seemed like an author I ought to read although out of my normal realm. I am one of those infamous white males. Mosey writes about Easy Rawlins, a black guy immersed in a black milieu of 1960s Los Angeles. So I go to my favorite online used book dealer, www.alibris.com , to buy some books in the Easy Rawlins series. As is often the case, the first book in a series is not available used and cheap. Everyone wants to try out or collect the first book. So I end up beginning with this book, the fourth in the series. And it seems like I end up paying the price for coming into a story in the middle. I don’t know the history or the characters and have a hard time figuring out what is up. But in the muddle of events there is some punchy and intriguing writing. Easy seems like both a wise and reckless character with interesting baggage, past and present. And since I am missing pages one, two and three, I have to make do with a start on page four and go with the flow. But the GR reviews give me hope for a worthwhile experience, maybe somewhat jumbled, if I am patient. I have a few of the books in the series in no particular meaningful order or selection: the ones available in good condition for a buck. Four books from 1994, 1996, 2001 and 2004. Go easy on me, Easy!This book has confused me. I find stellar sentences, cryptic comments, captivating paragraphs. And yet the big picture of the flow of the story eludes me somehow. I am tossed between events strange and disjointed. What seems at one moment to be shocking becomes sensitive at another. Easy is stabbed by an ice pick and then soothed and nursed by thoughts of his children. He is aggressive and tender. Chapter 26 was good with the crows. Chapter 27 was pretty good with the B&E. But what I want to know is, “What do they have to do with each other?” Is this a book of unrelated short stories? Maybe that should be my approach. If I tried to put it all together, this story was too complicated for me. But I did find that I enjoyed plenty of the bits and pieces even if I couldn’t stitch them together in my head. I will probably try out another of the Easy Rawlins books just to satisfy my curiosity. To see if another bulb brightens up the dimness at all. But I doubt that I will ever get to all three of the books I have on my shelf. I am giving this book three stars, which seems exactly right. I could have used a few post-it notes to try to make more sense of it, but I just don’t think it would have made any difference to me in the stars.
—Larry Bassett
It's probably no surprise to folks on this book-club site - Mosley is a terrific crime novelist."Black Betty" is an Easy Rawlins story and Easy is about as tough, worldly and taciturn as any private detective by an active author. For those new to Mosley, Easy is African American, WWII vet, L.A. and this story takes place in the early 1960s. Other books are further back or further forward in time. I don't know the temporal sequence Mosley uses (if any).Easy is hired, by a white man, to find Black Betty, an acquaintance from his old neighborhood (his new neighborhood isn't Beverly Hills by a long shot). To give you a feel, "Betty was a great shark of a woman. men died in her wake...she had something about her that drove men wild. And she wasn't stingy with her charms." You know this case will get deep and dirty fast. And it does.I'm a big fan of Mosley and highly recommend this book (and virtually any Easy Rawlins book) to fans of hard nosed crime fiction.
—Sean Cronin
