Harlem Reads! Devil in a Blue Dress Book Discussion

Join us for an in-person discussion of Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. Copies are available for checkout at the Circulation Desk.

Harlem Community Collection: Since before the Harlem Renaissance and right through the present day, Harlem has had a rich tradition of extraordinary African American writing and culture. With the Harlem Community Collection, librarians at Countee Cullen Library and Harlem Library have curated a selection of some of the most significant works written about, for, by, and in Harlem and its diverse communities. These books are reserved for circulation in Harlem to ensure easy community access to great works of literature that speak to the Black experience in America. Authors including Maya Angelou, Faith Ringgold, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Nikki Grimes, Walter Dean Myers, Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Chester Himes feature in this growing collection.

Visit 125th Street Library and Harlem Library for more information and to borrow titles from the collection. 

WALTER MOSLEY is the author of more than 46 critically acclaimed books. Mosley's books have been adapted for film and television with new projects in development at FX, HBO, SPIKE TV, and Cinemax. He has won numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, NAACP Image Award, a Grammy, “Risktaker Award” from the Sundance Institute, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2016, Mosley was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, becoming the first African American author to earn the title.

Devil in a Blue Dress is a crime novel in 1948 set in Los Angeles. The story follows Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, an African American World War II veteran who struggles to make a living in the postwar period. When a mysterious white man named Mr. Albright offers Easy money to find Daphne Monet, a missing woman, he reluctantly takes on the job. What begins as a simple search soon spirals into a dangerous investigation, drawing Easy into a world of crime, corruption, and racial tensions. 

The novel explores themes of identity, morality, and the complexities of race in mid-20th-century America, with Easy navigating a series of moral dilemmas and confrontations that challenge his understanding of justice.The book blends elements of hard-boiled detective fiction with social commentary, providing a gritty and nuanced portrayal of life for black Americans in the postwar era.