Understanding Walter Mosley

"She [Larson] does an admirable job of distinguishing this series from other detective works in the noir genre, noting the concern for historical change and a dynamically developing detective."—Modern Language Review

"Noteworthy in Larson's study is the evolution of Easy Rawlins as a character in coherence with changes in race relations over the years since 1948, the time-peg for Devil in a Blue Dress, the first novel in the series."—American Literary Scholarship: 2016

"Writing about the superhumanly productive Walter Mosley is comparable to trying to hold time in a bottle. Yet, Jennifer Larson manages to hold the cap on long enough to provide an informed, engaged, and remarkably accessible study of Mosley's expansive, cross-genre creations. This succinct volume is a gift to Mosley lovers everywhere."—Trudier Harris, University of Alabama

"Larson provides fans and scholars with guides for exploring Mosley's diverse and expanding literary territory. She nimbly walks the fan through the Easy Rawlins series and then uses representative works to illuminate Mosley's other fictional genre. She often opens avenues for scholarly inquiry, especially in linking Mosley's understudied nonfiction to his fictional work."—Owen Brady, Clarkson University

"Walter Mosley is a prolific, provocative, and profound writer, equally at home in a wide range of literary genres. Jennifer Larson has accomplished a difficult, yet worthy task in seeking out new critical insights within both the well-lit rooms and dark corners of Mosley's vast and diverse body of work."—Derek C. Maus, State University of New York at Potsdam