Walter Mosley: Six Easy Pieces (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
Easy should be living a contented life, with steady work as senior head custodian of Sojourner Truth High School, and a loving family. But happiness is as elusive for Easy as smoke in shadows. Easy's the man folks seek out when they can't take their problems to anyone else. Trading favors and investigating cases of arson, murder, missing persons, and false accusations, it's hard to steer clear of trouble. Easy walks the line in this must-have collection from bestselling, award-winning author Walter Mosley.

Walter Mosley: Six Easy Pieces. Easy Rawlins Storys. Washington Square Press, ISBN: 0743442547 (September, 2003), 278 p., $14.00.

Walter Mosley: Six Easy Pieces (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
With the love of a good woman and two beautiful children, Easy Rawlins has put his past life of trading favors behind him. Following the loss of his best friend and sidekick, Mouse, he wants to set an example for his children by earning an honest living. But trouble has a way of finding Easy on the mean streets of Watts.

Easy wanders from schoolhouse to whorehouse as he is drawn into investigating the torching of Sojourner Truth, the Junior High School where he works, then the turning over of a local garage and the death of a prostitute. But no man is an island... His job, his lover, his comfortable house and the children he cherishes all count for nothing when the phone rings and a woman asks if he knows where Mouse is. Easy soon discovers that Mouse is as much of a moral challenge dead as alive.

Rich in character and place, the stories reveal the complex nature of the American experience -- the issues of class and race, hope and despair, light and darkness. Six Easy Pieces is confirmation that Mosley's vision continues to stretch and redefine the American canon.

Walter Mosley: Six Easy Pieces. Easy Rawlins Storys. Serpent's Tail, ISBN: 1852428309 (July, 2003), 278 p., £12.00.

Walter Mosley: Six Easy Pieces (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
WALTER MOSLEY's bestselling and award-winning novels -- from Gone Fishin' to Devil in a Blue Dress, named one of the "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association -- have endeared him to legions of readers from a U.S. president to everyday people who can't get enough of Easy Rawlins.

Now from the bestselling and award-winning writer comes Six Easy Pieces. The beloved Ezekiel Rawlins now has a steady job as senior head custodian of Sojourner Truth High School, a nice house with a garden, a loving woman, and children. He counts the blessings of leading a law-abiding life, but is "nowhere near happy." Easy mourns the loss of his best friend, Mouse. Though Easy tries to leave the street life behind, he still finds himself trading favors and investigating cases of arson, murder, and missing people. People who can't depend on the law to solve their problems seek out Easy.

A bomb is set in the high school where Easy works. A man's daughter runs off with his employee. A beautiful woman turns up dead and the man who loved her is wrongly accused. Easy is the man people turn to in search of justice and retribution. He even becomes party to a killing that the police might call murder.

Six of the seven stories in Six Easy Pieces were published in reissued Washington Square Press editions of the Easy Rawlins mysteries Gone Fishin, Devil in a Blue Dress, A Red Death, White Butterfly, Black Betty, and A Little Yellow Dog. A seventh, Amber Gate," is newly published here, making this new Walter Mosley classic a must-have for all fans of great fiction.

Contents:
Smoke -- Crimson Stain -- Silver Lining -- Lavender -- Gator Green -- Gray-Eyed Death -- Amber Gate

Walter Mosley: Six Easy Pieces. Easy Rawlins Storys. Atria Books, ISBN: 0743442520 (January, 2003), 278 p., $24.00.