Short Story Wednesday: Two Stories from OxCrimes

 

I have had OxCrimes, edited by Mark Ellingham and Peter Florence, for several years and previously had only read six stories from that anthology. This week I read two more stories and both were very good. 

First is "The Sin of Dreams" by Walter Mosley. This is a cross-genre story, a combination of science fiction and crime fiction, although heavier on the science fiction side. As the story begins, a hip hop promoter who runs a biological research company is trying to convince a very young expert in bio-storage technology, Carly Mathews, to join a company that plans to transfer one's memories along with the soul from one body to another. The intent is to provide a way to move the soul of a dying human to a new body. Carly doesn't believe that this is possible, but she is lured into the proposition because the work would be so challenging and she would gain from it whether it is successful or not. Mosley writes so well that I was pulled in from the beginning. It was a very interesting story with a weird ending.

This story was first published in OxCrimes in 2014, but was also published in the recent collection of Mosley's short stories, The Awkward Black Man, released in September 2020.

The second story I read was "Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night" by Mark Billingham. It featured his series character, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, and it almost made me want to try that series. I read the story now because it is still close to the holidays. The ending was kind of obvious but I liked the story anyway. It is not your usual uplifting or festive Christmas tale.

All of the stories I have read in this anthology have been excellent. I am sure I will continue and read all the stories in the book (eventually).

Monthly Summary, May 2020

I read eight books this month and I reviewed five of them before putting up my monthly summary. That is an achievement for me. Probably not one I will continue with, because I have so many reviews from earlier in the year that I haven't done for challenges. Oh well.

I read two books from my Classics Club list, The Master and Margarita and And Then There Were None. Five books were from my TBR pile, two were borrowed from my husband, and one book I bought in March of this year.

And here is my list of books...

General Fiction

The Provincial Lady in America (1934)
by E.M. Delafield

I wrote a post on the first three Provincial Lady books, including this one, here. They are all written in diary form and are a lot of fun to read.

The Master and Margarita (1966)
by Mikhael Bulgakov
Translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

This is a Russian classic novel written in the 1930's and finished shortly before the author died in 1940, at the age of 49. The novel was finally published in Russia in 1966. It combines humor with magical realism and was a difficult read for me. My review here.

Science Fiction

The Collapsing Empire (2017) by John Scalzi

This is the first book in a science fiction trilogy about an empire of worlds connected by travel via The Flow. See my review here.

Crime Fiction

The Awkward Squad (2015) by Sophie Hénaff
Translated from the French by Sam Gordon

A police detective, Anne Capestan, has been suspended for six months and expects her superior, Buron, to end her employment. Instead he gives her a new department made up of misfits and rejects from other areas; the mission is to follow up on unsolved cases. This premise sounds similar to that of The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen (set in Denmark). This one is set in France, and it is more humorous in tone. 

And Then There Were None (1939) by Agatha Christie

Ten strangers are invited to an isolated island mansion by a mysterious unknown person who identifies himself as "U.N. Owen." See my review. When I posted my review I had completely forgotten that I purchased a copy of the facsimile first edition, so I am sharing that image here. 

Fearless Jones (2001) by Walter Mosley

First book in the Fearless Jones series. My review here.

The Accident (2014) by Chris Pavone

In March of this year, I read The Expats by Chris Pavone. I loved that book, and looked for Pavone's second book immediately. I had the same reaction to this book. I liked this book for its insights into the publishing industry. A group of people is  trying to suppress the publication of a manuscript. This isn't specifically spy fiction but it certainly reads like it, and the hunt to track down the manuscript is headed by a CIA operative.

At Risk (2004) by Stella Rimington

Liz Carlyle is an MI5 officer working in counterintelligence. In this first book in the series, she is provided information on possible terrorist activity in her area. The author was director general of MI5, so one assumes that she knows the subject. I liked it and will continue the series.

Fearless Jones: Walter Mosley

The star of this book (and the narrator) is Paris Minton, but there would not be much of a story without his friend Fearless Jones. They are a case of opposites attracting; Paris is the brains and Fearless is the brawn (and in some cases, the conscience). The story takes place in Watts in 1954.

Description from the back of my book:

Bookshop owner Paris Minton is minding his own business when a brief encounter with a beautiful stranger gets him beaten, shot at, robbed, and then burned out of the store and home. Paris needs help but his secret weapon–brave, reckless WWII hero Fearless Jones–is in jail. Vowing to dish out some heavy justice, Paris plots to get Jones back on the street. But when these two men come together, they'll find themselves trapped in a bewildering vortex of sex, money, and murder–and a dicey endgame that's littered with dangerous players...

I love Paris Minton. I admire him because he has worked hard (and creatively) to own a bookstore and support himself, but I love him because he loves books.

Business [in the bookstore] wasn't brisk, but it paid the rent and utilities. And all day long I could do the thing I loved best–reading. I read Up from Slavery, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Mein Kampf, and dozens of other titles in the first few months. Whole days I spent in my reclining swivel chair, turning pages and drinking Royal Crown colas.

Fearless Jones, his friend, is very big, a brawny guy, with anger management problems.

Fearless Jones. Tall and slender, darker than most Negroes in the American melting pot, he was stronger than tempered steel and an army-trained killing machine.

... and ...

Fearless was the kind of person who attracted trouble. He didn't know how to look away or back down. He couldn't even spell the word compromise. Whenever he called me, I didn't know if we were going to get drunk at a party or get jumped down some dark alley. 

In Fearless Jones, Paris Minton's life is disrupted by a beautiful woman in trouble. As a result of getting involved with her, his book store is burned down. Paris doesn't want to go looking for trouble, but he does want his store back. He needs Fearless Jones, so he gets him out of jail. There are a lot of characters, mostly bad guys. There is a crooked cop and there are good cops, but mostly it is up to Paris and Fearless to take care of themselves.

In my review of A Red Death, the second book in the Easy Rawlins series, I noted that I found the book dark, gritty, and violent, to an extent that it lessened my enjoyment of the book. This book also has those elements. But with all the crime and violence, I still enjoyed reading about Paris and Fearless. I think it is their friendship and loyalty to each other that I like.

As in A Red Death, there is an emphasis on the sympathy of blacks with Jewish people and vice versa, since both have suffered from prejudice and suppression. This book is set in 1954, so the effects and events of World War II are still on people's minds.

When I was about halfway through this book, I was thinking that I preferred the Easy Rawlings series more (I have only read two of those).  Then when I finished Fearless Jones, I decided I liked this one better. I guess that both series have their strong points and it is good that they are different.

I don't want to go too overboard in praising this book, because I think the plot is too fragmented. Like real life. The type of plot that has no happy ending. But I was focused on characters, not plot, and all I wanted was for Paris to get his book store back so it all worked for me.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Vision, 2002 (orig. pub. 2001)
Length:       337 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Fearless Jones #1
Setting:      Los Angeles, CA
Genre:       Historical fiction / Mystery
Source:      On my TBR pile since 2013.

A Red Death: Walter Mosley

Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is the protagonist in a crime fiction series by Walter Mosley. The fourteenth book in the series will come out later this year.  The first book, Devil in a Blue Dress, was set in 1948 in Los Angeles, California. That book was followed by A Red Death, and picks up five years later.

After the occurrences in the first book, Easy Rawlins has come into a large amount of money, and he has used that money to buy some apartment houses. However, he keeps his ownership secret:

Everybody thought I was the handyman and that Mofass collected the rent for some white lady downtown. I owned three buildings, the Magnolia Street place being the largest, and a small house on 116th Street. All I had to do was the maintenance work, which I liked because whenever you hired somebody to work for you they always took too long and charged too much. And when I wasn't doing that I could do my little private job. 

On top of real estate I was in the business of favors. I'd do something for somebody, like find a missing husband or figure out who's been breaking into so-and-so's store, and then maybe they could do me a good turn one day. It was a real country way of doing business. At that time almost everybody in my neighborhood had come from the country around southern Texas and Louisiana. 

People would come to me if they had serious trouble but couldn't go to the police. Maybe somebody stole their money or their illegally registered car. Maybe they worried about their daughter's company or a wayward son. I settled disputes that would have otherwise come to bloodshed. I had a reputation for fairness and the strength of my convictions among the poor. Ninety-nine out of a hundred black folk were poor back then, so my reputation went quite a way.

For me this book was not an enjoyable read, but I learned a lots, both about Walter Mosley and about the black experience in this country in the 1950s. In addition, it portrayed the time of the Red Scare in the years following World War II. I was a child in those times and just vaguely remember the fear that was instilled in children at that time, but haven't read much in fiction about the persecutions that resulted.

I did not know that Mosley is both Jewish and black. His father was black and originally from Louisiana. His mother was Jewish and her family immigrated from Russia. I am sure that his background informed the story of A Red Death. One of the main characters is Chaim Wenzler, a Jewish man who is active in the black church in Easy’s neighborhood. An IRS agent threatens Mosley with jail if he doesn't pay the taxes on the money he used to buy the real estate. An FBI agent promises to take care of that charge if Easy will spy on Chaim Wenzler. Craxton (FBI Agent) is sure that Wenzler is a Communist,  and wants Easy to find proof. Easy doesn't want to spy on anyone and especially not in a church that many of his friends attend, but he does not see that he has much choice.

When I say the read was not enjoyable, I am certainly not criticizing the writing. However the story is very dark, gritty, and violent. Although Easy solves most of his problems in this book, there is no happy ending. It just wasn't a pleasant read, but I am very glad I read it.

In a review for Rose Gold, the 13th book in the series, Ivy Pochoda talks about the secondary characters in the Easy Rawlins series:

Every Rawlins novel can be read on its own, but it's a far richer experience to read them in sequence and follow Easy's complex evolution as well as that of his ad hoc family and tight circle of friends. These are the folks who provide a fascinating set of roadside attractions as Easy's case rolls on. Mosley doesn't let anyone slide; everyone, no matter how minor, gets full billing.

Pochoda notes in the review that Easy's "slick criminal pal Mouse" is the best character in the novels.

Reviews:

• My review of Devil in a Blue Dress
• Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist... has written an In the Spotlight piece on The Red Death.
• A review at Hipster Dad's Bookshelf

The question now is what will I read next by Walter Mosley. I have the next book in the Easy Rawlins series, White Butterfly. I have Fearless Jones (the Fearless Jones series), The Long Fall (the Leonid McGill series), and Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (the Socrates Fortnow series). I am curious about the other series.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:   W. W. Norton & Company, 1991
Length:       284 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Series:       Easy Rawlins #2
Setting:      Los Angeles, CA
Genre:        Historical fiction / Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Top Ten Reads in 2013

I cheated somewhat here because one of my ten is a trilogy, and I could not pick just one from the three novels. Another pick is a reread, but I included it because I was just so impressed when I read it again. All of these books are by authors that I want to continue reading and catch up on their series.

• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch 
• The Last Policeman by Ben Winters 
• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
• Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
• Crooked House by Agatha Christie  
• The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
• A Night of Long Knives by Rebecca Cantrell
• Plots and Errors by Jill McGown
• The White Trilogy by Ken Bruen
• Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

The first book in Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, set in 1948, post WWII, a black neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is a black man who moves to Los Angeles, California from Houston, Texas to look for a better life after serving in the military during World War II. I liked this for the characterization and the look at racism and prejudice in that time period.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler:

I loved this one because the writing is beautiful. It was his first novel and many readers say it is not his best book, but I was mesmerized by the writing. I don't know how much my opinion was influenced by my love of the movie (the Humphrey Bogart version).

The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza.

This is the first of a police procedural series that stars Inspector Espinosa of the First Precinct in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This detective is a book lover and a philosopher. His apartment is stacked with books. But mainly what I liked was the unusual format. The first section, which makes up about half of the book, is told in third person and sets up the basic story. The middle section is written in first person from the point of view of the detective, so at that point we are just getting what he knows about the event. The smallest section, at the end, returns to third person to tie up all the events, in a sense. I found this to be a compelling read and am eager to continue the series.

A Night of Long Knives by Rebecca Cantrell

The story is told in first person, by Hannah Vogel, formerly a journalist, now on the run from the authorities in Germany. This book takes place in 1934, in the cities of Munich and Berlin. I like the strong, independent female protagonist. In addition, Hannah's story shows us Germany at a time when many are forced to join the Nazi party in order to keep their jobs, where parents are afraid to speak their mind because their children may inform on them. 

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch:

A cross-genre novel, blending fantasy and crime fiction. Most often I have seen it categorized as Urban Fantasy. The main character is a policeman and is actively investigating crimes so it also fits the definition of a police procedural. It is humorous and fun.

 
Crooked House by Agatha Christie
I have read eight Agatha Christie books this year. This one is not in a series, but stands alone. I liked everything about this book. I particularly appreciated:

• The story is told in first person, by Charles Hayward, who wants to marry Sophia Leonides. I generally enjoy books told in the first person, because you get closer to the character.
• It is a love story, but the love story does not dominate. As the reader, I wanted the love story to end well, but as with all the mysteries by Christie that I have read, I was never sure what was coming.
• The story features a strong woman as a central character, and I always appreciate that. Especially in a vintage mystery.

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters:

The story of a policeman, Detective Hank Palace, pursuing a homicide case in a pre-apocalyptic world. In a world where many people are abandoning their jobs or changing their entire lives, Hank is stubbornly investigating an incident that every one else thinks is suicide. This book was compelling and thought-provoking.

The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer

Milo Weaver works for the CIA, in the Department of Tourism. "Tourists" are described as undercover agents with no identity and no home. Milo is not the James Bond type, although there are plenty of thrilling escapades and violence. But we see the other side of this spy's life, the family he wishes he could spend more time with.

A White Arrest / Taming the Alien / The McDead by Ken Bruen

These three books make up The White Trilogy, a book that includes the first three Sergeant Brant mysteries. A White Arrest introduces Chief Inspector Roberts and Detective Sergeant Brant. They are working on two cases, one involving murders of dope dealers, the other a killer aiming at members of the England cricket team. In Taming the Alien, Brant visits Ireland and New York. The McDead is a story of revenge, with Roberts seeking to get back at the man who killed his brother, who seems to be protected by the higher ranks in the police department.

Ken Bruen's writing is poetic. He draws me into the story and I don't care that the protagonists are hard and violent and willing to bend the law. 

Plots and Errors by Jill McGown.

This book is the tenth in a series of thirteen books set primarily in a fictional town in the UK called Stansfield. These police procedurals star Chief Inspector Lloyd and Sergeant Judy Hill. The books do not follow a formula. Lloyd and Hill, and their ongoing relationship, are the mainstays of the series, but each book takes a different approach to telling the story. The unique aspect to Plots and Errors is that the structure is like a play and it is interspersed with quotes from Hamlet. There is a prologue, five acts, and an epilogue. There is even a list of the Dramatis Personae.

The character development is superb, from the main policemen to the subsidiary members of the team to the various family members whose lives have been affected by the crime.

Devil in a Blue Dress (film)

Walter Mosley published Devil in a Blue Dress, his first novel, in 1990. In 1995, a film adaptation was made of the novel, directed by Carl Franklin, starring Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins. The movie was critically acclaimed when it was released, but did not do well financially.

The last time I saw Devil in a Blue Dress was in 1999, so it is amazing how much I remembered about the movie. Most films or books that I watched or read that long ago are just a hazy memory. Perhaps it was the setting, Los Angeles in the late 1940's, or perhaps it was the fine acting by Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle, who played the role of Mouse, Easy's friend.

Ezekial "Easy" Rawlins is a black man who has come back from serving in the military in World War II and was able to purchase a house in Los Angeles, California. At the beginning of the story, Easy has lost his job and is desperate for a new one to pay his mortgage. A white man pays Easy a very large sum to find a beautiful white woman, Daphne Monet. Easy is suspicious of the offer of such a large sum, but he is desperate for money. The more he gets involved with Daphne and her problems, the more dangerous his situation becomes. My review of the book is here.

This article by Andrew Pulver at the Guardian (from 2004) has a good overview of the movie as a book adaptation. I especially liked these comments, which summarize one of the main reasons I liked both the book and the movie:

Though indebted to classic LA noir, Franklin's film is as much a nostalgic treatment of African-American life in the immediate post-war years, examining the fledgling suburban communities of South Central and Compton that later became riot-torn, rundown and violent.

The film was shot in and around Los Angeles for the most part. Per the liner notes for the DVD:

For the film's largest exterior scene, a four-block section of downtown L.A.'s Main Street was transformed into 1948 Central Avenue. 200 extras, 100 period vehicles, and an authentic red car trolley were recruited to complete the illusion.

I felt like the movie was true to the book and a very good retelling of that story. There were some changes to the plot and the characters, but they were minor. There was a scene between Daphne and Easy towards the end of the book that did not show up in the movie. I did not like that element of the book anyway, so I did not miss it. According to the liner notes, all adjustments that Franklin made were approved by Mosley.

I liked all of the performances, and especially Denzel Washington as Easy; Don Cheadle as his friend Mouse; Tom Sizemore as Dewitt Albright, the white man trying to find Daphne; and Jennifer Beals as Daphne. Other reviewers commented negatively about Beals portrayal of Daphne, but I thought it was fine. Maybe I was swayed because I liked her in the short-lived TV series, The Chicago Code.

The music was also very good. The original score for the film was written by Elmer Bernstein. The soundtrack included selections from the time that the movie was set.

Racial themes are dealt with but they do not overpower the plot. In this case I liked the book and the movie equally. The book allows the reader to understand Easy's motivations and the racial tensions of the times in more depth, but the movie is atmospheric and conveys the mood of the times very well.

This article at Turner Classic Movies is a very good resource on the film.

This is the second movie I have watched and reported on for the Book to Movie Challenge 2013, hosted by Doing Dewey.

New (to me) Mystery Authors, January - March

Today I am joining in on the meme for the best new-to-me crime fiction authors at Mysteries in Paradise. This meme runs at the end of each quarter. Check out other posts for this quarter.

In the first quarter of 2013, I read ten books by authors I had never read  before. That is a lot of new authors. Twice as many as in the last quarter. So, even if I am not getting through series that I have started, I have read some new authors that have been in my TBR pile a long time.

This is my list of books by new (to me) authors:

1. Publish or Perish by Margot Kinberg
2. The Smoke by Tony Broadbent
3. The Case of the Angry Actress by E. V. Cunningham
4. Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
5. Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka
6. Detective by Parnell Hall 
7. The Loyal Servant by Eva Hudson
8. Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt
9. Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen
10. A Stone of the Heart by John Brady

All of the books on this list were well-written and entertaining. I plan to read more books in each of the series.

Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt was a serial killer novel with too much graphic violence for my tastes. However, the characterization was so strong in that book, and the plotting and setting are so vivid, that I have to try the next in the series.

Margot Kinberg's Publish or Perish is an entertaining mystery that combines elements of amateur detective, police procedural and takes place in an academic setting. What more can you ask for?

It is hard to believe that it took me so long to read the first book in Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, Devil in a Blue Dress, which was published in 1990. It has an interesting setting:... 1948, post WWII, a black neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is a black man who moves to Los Angeles, California from Houston, Texas to look for a better life after serving in the military during World War II.




There were two books in this group that did not fit in my usual guidelines. Both were light, humorous private detective stories. Detective by Parnell Hall is set in New York City. Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka is set in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Normally I shy away from humor in mysteries, but I am discovering that it really depends on the writer, and both of these writers won me over.

A Stone of the Heart by John Brady is another winner. I am really into police procedurals at the moment. This one is set in Dublin, Ireland during the 1980's. I know very little about Ireland or Northern Ireland during this time and I want to know more.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge: Quarterly Summary

This quarter I have read 15 books that count toward the Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2013. Since my goal is 36 books, I am doing pretty well. The books I have read in January, February, March:

1. The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself by  K. C. Constantine
2. Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
3. Archie Meets Nero Wolfe by Robert Goldsborough
4. The Case of the Angry Actress by E. V. Cunningham
5. The Smoke by Tony Broadbent
6. The Last Houseparty by Peter Dickinson
7. Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
8. The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
9. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
10. More Book Lust by Nancy Pearl
11. Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt
12. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
13. Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen
14. Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer
15. A Stone of the Heart by John Brady

The book I have had the longest in this group is Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. Several of these books have been in my TBR stacks and boxes for close to seven years, but according to the ID in my cataloging system, this one was around before those. Just don't have the date of purchase for it.

I wish I had read this book sooner. My TBR pile still has other books by this author, and I hope to get to them soon.

My favorite book cover in this set of books is the one for The Case of the Angry Actress by E. V. Cunningham. I love old paperback covers. This is not a vintage mystery, but still quite a nice cover, in my opinion.

From my review:

I enjoyed this book most for the setting in Southern California in the 1960's. The book was published in 1967. I lived in Southern California in the 70's and I remember the smog and how different it seemed from my home state of Alabama.

Devil in a Blue Dress: Walter Mosley

The first book in Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, Devil in a Blue Dress, has an interesting setting:... 1948, post WWII, a black neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is a black man who moves to Los Angeles, California from Houston, Texas to look for a better life after serving in the military during World War II. He gets involved in a search for a beautiful white woman because he needs the money to pay his mortgage, and ends up trying to save his life by figuring out what is going on.

The character development is very good. Easy is human with frailties and strengths, and I felt his confusion and pain and fear. Living a life as a black man in LA at that time was challenging, to put it mildly.

"California was like heaven for the Southern Negro. People told stories of how you could eat fruit right off the trees and get enough work to retire one day. The stories were true for the most part, but the truth wasn't like the dream. Life was still hard in L.A., and if you worked every day you still found yourself on the bottom."

Easy has plenty of friends and acquaintances in the area, many of them transplants from Houston. One friend is Mouse, who he has avoided for years because of his extremely violent and amoral behavior. Yet, Easy feels he has to call on Mouse for help in this situation.

I read this for the Social Justice Theme Read at Resistance is Futile. Thus I was more tuned in to the issues of racism than I might have been otherwise. I found I was paying more attention to examples of his treatment as a black in a white world. I wish I could say it was shocking to me, but even in today's world, it is not surprising to hear of discrimination and police brutality such as described in this book. And so many times, the way blacks are treated with disrespect is almost unconscious.

"A job in a factory is an awful lot like working on a plantation in the South. The bosses see all the workers like they're children, and everyone knows how lazy children are. So Benny thought he'd teach me a little something about responsibility because he was the boss and I was the child.

The white workers didn’t have a problem with that kind of treatment because they didn’t come from a place where men were always called boys. The white worker would have just said, ‘Sure, Benny, you called it right, but damn if I can see straight right now.’ And Benny would have understood that. He would have laughed and realized how pushy he was being and offered to take Mr. Davenport, or whoever, out to drink beer. But the Negro workers didn’t drink with Benny. We didn’t go to the same bars, we didn’t wink at the same girls."

Another place where racism and prejudice played a big part was in the military service in World War II. I knew this. Even so, the brief descriptions of this period of Easy's life were most appalling to me. Prior to the beginning of World War II, the United States Army was segregated. Many black soldiers were not allowed to participate in combat and were relegated to support jobs. Only as the war neared its end did they allow blacks to join in units at the front.

"They said we didn't have the discipline or the minds for a war effort, but they were really scared that we might get to like the kind of freedom that death-dealing brings." 

And then he returns to a country where he is still subject to discrimination.

This taste of Walter Mosley's writing has me eager for more. Which is a good thing since I have copies of the next three in the series, plus the first book in the  Leonid McGill series.