#33: Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley

A cop trying to overthrow a heroin operation finds himself framed by crooked cops, and after a stint in Rikers looks for redemption in himself and for another framed man, in Walter Mosley's Down the River Unto the Sea.

Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries, which are slowly tracking through the 40s, 50s and 60s along with its aging detective protagonist, are definitive.  But now and then Mosley has introduced other detective characters, and Joe King Oliver is one. 

There are a lot of similarities with his other detective characters, including having a close friend and partner who happens to be a psychopath (like Mouse to Easy in his main series), but Oliver also has his own unique elements.

Mosley writes a great mystery, and this one is chock full of crooked cops, honorable crooks, laws broken for good, and laws followed for evil.  The ending relies on a lot of dominoes falling just right, but is ultimately satisfying, and I hope Mosley returns to Joe King Oliver.

I listened to a very good audiobook version read by Dion Graham on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#38: Little Green by Walter Mosley

L.A. private eye Easy Rawlins heads to the Sunset Strip at the height of the psychedelic 60s to find a missing young man, only to run afoul of angry hippies, murderous drug dealers, and other dangerous characters in Walter Mosley's Little Green.

Mosley's Easy Rawlins series is a great achievement in contemporary detective fiction, as Mosley has charted Rawlins' life from post-World War II California through the Cold War 50s to the late 60s counterculture, creating a rich accounting of various characters and events along the way. 

I continue to enjoy this series as the character grows and changes (having survived what appeared to be a fatal car wreck at the end of the last novel) along with a dynamic supporting cast of various friends, family, lowlifes, and cops.

Michael Boatman did a great read of this novel on audiobook, which I heard on loan from the New Castle-Henry County Memorial Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#42: Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

New York private eye Leonid McGill is asked by a well-connected politico to look into the whereabouts of a young beauty, unleashing a murderous chain of events in Walter Mosley's Known to Evil.

This is the second McGill mystery in a new series Mosley began recently.  Mosley's Easy Rawlins books, which takes a sort-of detective through life in L.A. from post World War II to post Watts riots and beyond, is one of my favorite contemporary mystery series and I believe will be remembered as one of the greats of the late 20th century.  I think Mosley is trying to do the same for New York, in a contemporary setting, with milder results.

McGill is a former very crooked P.I. who is somewhat bent back straight, with all the complications that ensue from that situation.  His home life, with an unfaithful wife and three kids with uncertain paternity, also weighs on his mind.  These main themes, and several other subplots, make for an overly dense narrative with a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion.

But a moderately successful Mosley novel is always above the average read, so I would recommend it for fans.

I listened to a very good audio book version of this, read by Mirron Willis, on loan from the Morrison-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#50: The Long Fall by Walter Mosley

Extremely tarnished P.I. Leonid McGill tries to go straight (or at least less crooked) when he gets wrapped up in multiple revenge plots in Walter Mosley's The Long Fall.

Mosley is one of my favorite contemporary mystery authors, and I have found his Easy Rawlins novels consistently good. In that series, Mosley traces the adventures of an L.A.-based quasi-detective from the end of World War II through the Red Scare and to the Watts riots and beyond. The political and social milieu of the Rawlins series adds much to the storytelling.

Here McGill is a contemporary detective, on the other side of the country in New York. And where the Rawlins series is shot through with hints of Chester Himes and Ross Macdonald McGill is much more Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Mosley's writing is equally admirable here and I thought this was a great start for what I hope is a new series.

I am glad I reached 50 books this year with one of my favorite writers.

I listened to a very good audiobook version of this on loan from the Morrison-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana.