Charcoal Joe

An Easy Rawlins Mystery

Walter Mosley’s indelible detective Easy Rawlins is back, with a new detective agency and a new mystery to solve.

Picking up where his last adventures in Rose Gold left off in L.A. in the late 1960s, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins finds his life in transition. He’s ready—finally—to propose to his girlfriend, Bonnie Shay, and start a life together. And he’s taken the money he got from the Rose Gold case and, together with two partners, Saul Lynx and Tinsford “Whisper” Natly, has started a new detective agency. But, inevitably, a case gets in the way: Easy’s friend Mouse introduces him to Rufus Tyler, a very old man everyone calls Charcoal Joe. Joe’s friend’s son, Seymour (young, bright, top of his class in physics at Stanford), has been arrested and charged with the murder of a white man from Redondo Beach. Joe tells Easy he will pay and pay well to see this young man exonerated, but seeing as how Seymour literally was found standing over the man’s dead body at his cabin home, and considering the racially charged motives seemingly behind the murder, that might prove to be a tall order.
Between his new company, a heart that should be broken but is not, a whole raft of new bad guys on his tail, and a bad odor that surrounds Charcoal Joe, Easy has his hands full, his horizons askew, and his life in shambles around his feet.

Vintage Easy with an unexpected assist.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with several prominent Black Angelinos making appearances. Easy enjoys an assist from one of the baddest of his friends not named Raymond.

THE GANGS ALL HERE.

I remember some of the characters but it was hard keeping up with the cast.

Charcoal Joe- really good, not great.

I enjoyed the story. It was a little busy as usual with so many new and old characters jammed into the storyline, but that comes with the territory.

The maturation of Easy is enjoyable. Age has brought along some wisdom and he also got some of his swagger back from the early days. I also love the fact that he and Fearless Jones finally linked up in a story. I just wish Boatman didn't narrate Fearless as if he were Gomer Pyle.

Overall, I enjoy Michael Boatman's narration overall, but he has some quirks in his style that annoy me slightly.

My one gripe is that Mouse didn't even flash that .41 caliber once. I don't see him being completely out of the game, so hopefully it shows back up in book 15.

Too convoluted not Mosley best

I always anticipate the release of WM books however this one had me going back and relistening to passages to ensure I didn’t get the characters mixed up. Enjoy his wonderment with parenting. His description of setting and characters always on point.
Narrator is perfect for this series. Would recommend BUT only if you start with the first Easy Rawlings book or you would be lost in my opinion.

My godness, I loved this book.

Walter Mosley is such a wonderful story teller. It was my first of his novels to read and now i am hooked, I will be reading the entire series.