
Devil in a Blue Dress
Award History
| Award | Year | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters | 2020 | Winner | “Walter Mosley received the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2020. Devil in a Blue Dress is his most celebrated novel.” |
About This Book
Easy Rawlins, a recently unemployed Black war veteran in 1948 Los Angeles, takes on a job finding a white woman who is known to frequent Black jazz clubs. The search draws him into a web of corruption, racial violence, and political intrigue. The debut novel in the celebrated Easy Rawlins series and a landmark of American crime fiction.
About the Author
Walter Mosley is an American author best known for his Easy Rawlins mystery series, set in Los Angeles's African American communities in the post-World War II era. Born in Los Angeles in 1952, Mosley studied political science at Johnson State College and received an MFA from City College of New York. His debut novel Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) introduced Easy Rawlins, a Black war veteran and reluctant private detective navigating a racially divided Los Angeles—and immediately established Mosley as a major new voice in American crime fiction. Read more →
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