Mosley, Walter, 1952–, African-American author, b. Los Angeles. He was a computer programmer until his first novel, the best-selling mystery Devil in a Blue Dress (1990; film, 1995), was published. A noirish tale of the search for a missing blonde in a seedy, corrupt 1948 Los Angeles, it introduces Mosley's smart, decent, and streetwise black detective, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a World War II veteran with a jaundiced view of the racist, money-fueled justice system. Mosely's subsequent mysteries move Rawlins forward in time; they include A Red Death (1991), Black Betty (1994), the short stories of Six Easy Pieces (2003), Little Scarlet (2004), and Cinnamon Kiss (2005). Versatile and prolific, the author of more than 50 books, Mosley has written other mysteries, e.g., Fearless Jones (2001) and And Sometimes I Wonder about You (2015); literary fiction, e.g., RL's Dream (1995) and Fortunate Son (2006); science fiction, e.g. Blue Light (1998) and Futureland (2001); and nonfiction, e.g., Workin' on the Chain Gang (2000) and Life Out of Context (2006).
See C. E. Wilson, Jr., Walter Mosley: A Critical Companion (2003).
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