Amazon.com The saga of Easy Rawlins that began in 1990 with Devil in a Blue Dress， continues in A Little Yellow Dog. Working as a janitor at Sojourner Truth Junior High School， Easy is asked to care for a small dog owned by the attractive Idabell Holland， a teacher at the school. When Idabell's husband is murdered， Easy finds himself mixed up with a gang of criminals engaged in looting Los Angeles schools and smuggling heroin from France. Idabell and Easy fall into a sexual liaison， but in the wake of it， Idabell is found stabbed to death in the passenger seat of Easy's car. While at first Easy thinks the murders are a "simple falling out of thieves，" a surprising twist on the level of "The Maltese Falcon" reveals the truth. From Publishers Weekly Easy Rawlins is back (after his last appearance in Black Betty)， which is great news for readers intrigued by Mosley's noir L.A. settings and his resourceful， street-smart hero. It's the early 1960s， and Easy has settled for a quiet， respectable life， out of touch with his raffish old comrades， making a home for his two adopted kids， working as a maintenance supervisor at a public school in Watts. But dead bodies interfere with his solid existence: first， a well-dressed corpse shows up in the school gardens; next， the first corpse's twin is discovered at the home of an attractive teacher at the school who has disappeared?leaving Easy， who has enjoyed a quick tumble with her， to look after her little dog， Pharaoh. When white police (even an ambitious Latino sergeant) come sniffing around， Easy draws their close attention; in that time and place， independent black men were automatic suspects in any mayhem. It is Mosley's great gift to make the racist atmosphere palpable without rubbing it in， and to show the depths of courage and tenacity in his marginal characters without preachiness. In the violent events that build to a bloody climax on the day JFK is shot， Easy and his friends， despite all their failings， hold to a code that never falters， meeting the worst life can throw at them with humor and grit. Mosley's thrillers， always thrilling， are salutary as well. BOMC and QPB selections; author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews