Blood Grove - Walter Mosley

nWalter Mosley's infamous detective Easy Rawlins is back, with a new mystery to solve on the sun-soaked streets of Southern California. n n Ezekiel Easy Porterhouse Rawlins is an unlicensed private investigator turned hard-boiled detective always willing to do what it takes to get things done in the racially charged, dark underbelly of Los Angeles. n n But when Easy is approached by a shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran--a young white man who claims to have gotten into a fight protecting a white woman from a black man--he knows he shouldn't take the case. n n Though he sees nothing but trouble in the brooding ex-soldier's eyes, Easy, a vet himself, feels a kinship form between them. Easy embarks on an investigation that takes him from mountaintops to the desert, through South Central and into sex clubs and the homes of the fabulously wealthy, facing hippies, the mob, and old friends perhaps more dangerous than anyone else. n n Set against the social and political upheaval of the late 1960s, Blood Grove is ultimately a story about survival, not only of the body but also the soul. n n Widely hailed as incomparable (Chicago Tribune) and dazzling (Tampa Bay Times), Walter Mosley proves that he's at the top of his game in this bold return to the endlessly entertaining series that has kept fans on their toes for years. nMaster of craft and narrative Walter Mosley returns with this crowning achievement in the Easy Rawlins saga, in which the iconic detective's loyalties are tested on the sun-soaked streets of Southern California (National Book Foundation) n nIt is 1969, and flames can be seen on the horizon, protest wafts like smoke though the thick air, and Easy Rawlins, the Black private detective whose small agency finally has its own office, gets a visit from a white Vietnam veteran. The young man comes to Easy with a story that makes little sense.

He and his lover, a beautiful young woman, were attacked in a citrus grove at the city's outskirts. He may have killed a man, and the woman and his dog are now missing. Inclined to turn down what sounds like nothing but trouble, Easy takes the case when he realizes how damaged the young vet is from his war experiences--the bond between veterans superseding all other considerations. n nThe veteran is not Easy's only unlooked-for trouble.

Easy's adopted daughter Feather's white uncle shows up uninvited, raising questions and unsettling the life Easy has long forged for the no