I have a reading confession.

Here it goes….is there a fictional genre that you treat like a paramour? I do, and its crime fiction. My main fictional genres are fantasy and literary fiction. I have read quite a bit of science fiction as well. However, I’ve always read crime fiction like it was a secret lover. Over the years, I have read several Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache novels, P. D. James’s Inspector Dalgliesh novels, and Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy (which is more of a deconstruction of the crime novel). After reading Walter Mosley’s “Black Betty,” I’ve decided to commit to reading the entire Easy Rawlins series and incorporate crime fiction more regularly into my reading habits.

In 1961 Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins faces financial woes with his real-estate company. He accepts a $200 offer (about $2200 in today’s money) from PI Saul Lynx to locate Elizabeth Eady, also known as Black Betty. Black Betty hails from Easy Rawlins’ hometown, Houston, Texas, and shares a past with her. After getting the money, Easy looks for Black Betty.

She worked as a housekeeper for a wealthy white family, led by patriarch Arthur Cain. As Easy Rawlins gets closer to finding her, he uncovers a dangerous path of deceit, death, and riches that nearly kills him. Also, Easy’s best friend, Raymond “Mouse” Alexander, is coming out of jail and wants revenge on the person who sent him there. Mosley brings these elements of Easy’s life together authentically, and the world of early 60s African American Los Angeles came to life from me as a reader. Black Betty is the best of the four novels I have read in the Easy Rawlins series so far, and I’m looking to read the next one, A Little Yellow Dog.