Mos of all crime fiction writers have certain 'signature' episodes or phrases in their works¸ constantly repeated. For an old example, in Gardner there was "sew a vest on a button" and the flashing legs of Della Street as she got out of a car. In Walter Mosely there is the repeated episode of a "lower class" (usually black) doorman, guard, etc. blocking the entrance of the main character to some office club, et It occurs several times in each book. In an Easy Rawlings book placed during the Watts riot, Easy (employed as janitorial supervisor at a school, is denied entrance to the school by a _black_ national guardsman, who has been instructed specifically to keep Blacks out. He even argues with his commanding officer befodre allowing Easy to enter. Without this repeated theme Mosely books would lose some of their character.
Carrol