‘A Little Yellow Dog’ puts bite back into mysteries

Author Mosley produces newest novel in Easy Rawlins detective
seriesBy Brandon Wilson

Summer Bruin Contributor

The last few years have been good to private eye Easy
Rawlins.

In 1992, the then President-elect Clinton cited Easy’s creator,
Walter Mosley, as his favorite mystery writer, thereby bringing
Easy from his devoted cult audience to nationwide prominence.

This notoriety culminated with last year’s release of "Devil in
A Blue Dress," a film adaptation of Easy’s first detective caper,
set in the underseen milieu of black Los Angeles after World War
II.

Denzel Washington’s beautiful realization of Easy, not to
mention Don Cheadle’s stand-out performance as Easy’s murdering
sociopath, boyhood friend and partner in crime Raymond "Mouse"
Alexander, wasn’t enough to capture a huge audience, making Easy’s
silver-screen career regrettably short.

But the books remain, including the 1991 "Blue Dress" follow up
"A Red Death," the 1992 serial killer yarn "White Butterfly" and
1994’s "Black Betty."

And now there’s "A Little Yellow Dog" (Norton).

This is the first Easy mystery to arrive since the film’s
release. It may or may not guarantee a larger readership, but one
thing is certain; this new book is the best of the series, marking
a turning point in the tumultuous life of the president’s favorite
detective.

Easy Rawlins is no longer the young man he was in "Devil in a
Blue Dress." Now it’s 1963, and Easy is 43 years old, with two
adopted children and two years into a lifelong vow to stay off the
streets, made after the events of the previous novel.

Easy even has a straight job as head custodian of Sojourner
Truth Junior High. And for him, the workaday world, with it’s
routines and security, is as much his salvation as his house was in
the first novel.

Of course, Easy’s 9 to 5 days are about to come to an end. It
all starts when Easy happens upon Mrs. Idabell Turner, the
comeliest teacher at Truth, along with her titular pet, Pharaoh.
The enmity between Easy and Pharaoh is immediate and enduring.

The chemistry between Easy and Mrs. Turner is also potent,
resulting in a pre-school-hours classroom tryst that seals Easy’s
contract as Mrs. Turner’s reluctant protector. She is on the run
from her cretinous, abusive husband (he even threatened her
dog!!!).

Easy, overwhelmed by passion and compassion for the
schoolteacher, agrees to help her, and hides her Pharaoh while she
attends to the last minute details of fleeing her spouse once and
for all.

But then a body is found in the school’s garden. And Easy soon
happens upon another freshly-killed corpse, one that’s an identical
twin to the body harvested from Sojourner Truth’s flora yard.

Before Easy can bat an eyelash, he’s right back in the street,
surrounded by cops who hate him, ruthless gangsters and duplicitous
femmes.

He’s slowly forced to call on the aide of his friends who have
also begun walking the straight and narrow (even Mouse has a job as
Truth’s night janitor!) but now must go along with Easy on one more
trip through Los Angeles’ underbelly.

On the surface, the story doesn’t seem all that new or
innovative.

One of the Easy mysteries’ greatest flaws has been a certain
redundancy of theme and plot; with the exception of "A Red Death,"
all the Easy mysteries have felt at one time or another like mere
reworkings of the story and subject so well done in "Devil in A
Blue Dress."

But with "Yellow Dog," Mosley proves he’s in no rut.

The book has a deceptive levity to it ­ the children’s book
title, the humorous first chapter and the familiar set-up ­
but the power of the book gathers with every page, and the last
third of the 300-page novel kicks in with a vengeance and doesn’t
let go until the heart-stopping, heart-breaking climax or the
bluesy existentialism of the last page.

From the beginning to the end, its Mosley’s prose that makes the
book a consummate page-turner. His dead-on ear for language, deft
usage of metaphor, sharp insight and eye for detail keep you
riveted to the page even before the plot kicks into overdrive.

And of course, what makes a reader look forward to their next
trip to Easy’s world are the rich characters. Names and people from
previous novels appear frequently, and they carry all the weight,
scars and baggage of the years that have passed.

But what really gives "A Little Yellow Dog" its bite is Easy’s
sad assessment of his situation.

The book doesn’t simply take for granted that Easy gets in
trouble, and neither does Easy. He is haunted by the fact that now
in middle-age, his attempt at being a "squarejohn" has lead him
back into danger.

Age has brought even Mouse a certain sense of his mortality. As
Mouse and Easy head into danger again, the two fathers silently
pose the eternal question "Is This All There Is?" What answer they
get is not too encouraging.

And while another Easy novel is sure to appear in a few years,
the questions Easy is left with will haunt him and the reader until
the adventures of Easy Rawlins continue.

… the last third of the 300-page novel kicks in with a
vengeance and doesn’t let go until the heart-stopping,
heart-breaking climax …