>I've read a couple of WM, have a stack of others.
>They are a lot of fun, not especially memorable.
>Pictures of a racist, corrupt and money-dominated society,
>nothing much deeper than that, nor any notion of
>resistance. The protagonist is a loner who wins
>by surviving. Pretty standard, though the portrayal
>and writing to me are uncommonly good and perceptive.
>
>
That wasn't exactly my impression. Based on reading some 1/2 dozen of
his books what struck me about Mosely's writing was
-- that the protagonist was NOT a loner, but often worked with the help of the African-American community to solve murders.
-- that mostly what he survives is the LAPD... by sometimes sharing information. How much he share and what he shares is often the central dilemma of the books thus bringing forward the issue of collaboration with the enemy (police).
-- that the protagonist is not a perfect man and not a virtuoso but simply a caring man and a self-reflective man who is capable of learning from his mistakes and from others. Very unmacho, no superfly here.
-- that the protagonist is not a stylish detective superhero, but (toward the end of the series) a janitor in a public school whose status is given not by his social standing but by his integrity and mature concern for others.
-- an almost palpable nostalgia for those times when the black man knew who his enemy was.
And of course, well written