The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 16 books · 1990 to 2025 · Set in Los Angeles

Walter Mosley

Crime and mysteryPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled

Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a Black Second World War veteran, becomes an unlicensed investigator in Los Angeles in 1948, and the series follows him and his dangerous best friend Mouse through the civil rights era into the 1970s.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. Six Easy Pieces (stories) and Mosley’s other series are left out.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Walter Mosley books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Easy Rawlins

16 books · Set in Los Angeles · story order differsPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled
  1. 1Devil in a Blue Dress1990With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  2. 2A Red Death1991With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  3. 3White Butterfly1992With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  4. 4Black Betty1994With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  5. 5A Little Yellow Dog1996With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  6. 6Gone Fishin’1997With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  7. 7Bad Boy Brawly Brown2002With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  8. 8Little Scarlet2004With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  9. 9Cinnamon Kiss2005With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  10. 10Blonde Faith2007With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  11. 11Little Green2013With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  12. 12Rose Gold2014With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  13. 13Charcoal Joe2016With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  14. 14Blood Grove2021With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  15. 15Farewell, Amethystine2023With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon
  16. 16Gray Dawn2025With Easy RawlinsBuy on Amazon

Characters

7 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Easy’s Los Angeles