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White Butterfly [Paperback]

Walter Mosley (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 15, 2002
The police don't show up on Easy Rawlins's doorstep until the third girl dies. It's Los Angeles, 1956, and it takes more than one murdered black girl before the cops get interested. Now they need Easy. As he says: "I was worth a precinct full of detectives when the cops needed the word in the ghetto." But Easy turns them down. He's married now, a father -- and his detective days are over. Then a white college coed dies the same brutal death, and the cops put the heat on Easy: If he doesn't help, his best friend is headed for jail. So Easy's back, walking the midnight streets of Watts and the darker, twisted avenues of a cunning killer's mind....

Frequently Bought Together

White Butterfly + A Red Death : Featuring an Original Easy Rawlins Short Story "Silver Lining" + Black Betty : Featuring an Original Easy Rawlins Short Story "Gator Green"
Price For All Three: $32.10

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The third novel in Mosley's acclaimed series starring Easy Rawlins, a black PI who lives and works in the Watts section of L.A. in the 1950s, centers on the investigation of the murder of a white college coed who led a double life as a stripper.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Black detective Easy Rawlins aids his dangerous-but-loyal friend Mouse, accused of killing several bar girls in 1958 Los Angeles. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Washington Square Press (October 15, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743451775
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743451772
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Walter Mosley is one of America's most celebrated and beloved writers. His books have won numerous awards and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Mosley is the author of the acclaimed Easy Rawlins series of mysteries, including national bestsellers Cinnamon Kiss, Little Scarlet, and Bad Boy Brawly Brown; the Fearless Jones series, including Fearless Jones, Fear Itself, and Fear of the Dark; the novels Blue Light and RL's Dream; and two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, for which he received the Anisfield-Wolf Award, and Walkin' the Dog. He lives in New York City.

 

Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Mystery novel as work of art, March 17, 2000
By A Customer
This is a wonderfully crafted novel that takes Easy Rawlins into uncharted emotional waters. I give it four stars instead of five only because I felt the resolution to the mystery aspect of the story was a little too pat. However, the moving and unexpected emotional crisis faced by Easy near the end was truly heartbreaking. As with all the Easy Rawlins books, author Walter Mosley has taken the tried-and-true mystery genre and turned it into a commentary on race and class. Taken together, these books constitute an American masterpiece, and White Butterfly is one of the best.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction..., August 21, 2000
By 
This was my first Mosley/Easy Rawlins mystery and I enjoyed it immensely. It had depth of character and interesting plot twists and turns. I also liked the fact that it was a story about African Americans in 1956 Los Angeles and it didn't rely on the 'N' word for shock value (unlike Ellroy and a few others). I think it was a great introduction to the series.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Strong Plot Strong Characters, September 12, 2002
By A Customer
... Mosley gives us a male character who isn't afraid to cry and when he gets angry he doesn't get violent but does get even. The mystery surrounding the death of the white stripper is cleverly written into the plot and when the clues reveal the killer they all make sense. This series improves with each novel and Easy is turning into a complex person who has demons of his own to battle.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
orange man, scarred man
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Quinten Naylor, Gabby Lee, Bonita Edwards, Cyndi Starr, Easy Rawlins, Hollywood Row, Roland Hobbes, Gregory Jewel, Sylvia Bride, Los Angeles, Robin Garnett, Raymond Alexander, Bull Horker, San Francisco, Vernor Garnett, Ezekiel Rawlins, Central Avenue, Willa Scott, Bone Street, Viola Saunders, Tiny Bland, Horace Voss, Minnie Fry, Jackson Blue, Randall Abernathy
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