Imagined crossover · Private eyes
What if Easy Rawlins met Coffin Ed Johnson?
Watts meets Harlem. Two essential voices of Black American crime fiction, from the West Coast and the East.
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The pair
Easy RawlinsWar veteran turned investigator in Los AngelesBy Walter Mosley · Easy Rawlins · first in Devil in a Blue Dress
Coffin Ed JohnsonHarlem detective with an acid-scarred faceBy Chester Himes · Harlem Detectives · first in A Rage in Harlem
Chemistry6/10
Friction7/10
Would you read this crossover?
Where and when
Harlem, New York
The late 1950s and 1960s
The story
- How they might meet
- A man Easy is searching for has fled from Los Angeles to Harlem, where two very tough detectives already have their eyes on him.
- Why they would work
- Two essential voices of Black American crime fiction, from the West Coast and the East.
- What each brings
- Easy brings patience, street sense and a gift for getting people to talk. Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones bring authority, reputation and a great deal of firepower.
- Where they would clash
- Easy works quietly; Coffin Ed’s methods are anything but quiet, and Easy would worry about the people caught in the crossfire.
Strengths compared
Easy Rawlins Coffin Ed Johnson
Our own ratings out of 10, for fun.
On the page together
The years in which each character's books were published.
Read your way in
Start with each character's first appearance.
- Devil in a Blue DressWalter Mosley · 1990 · Easy Rawlins's first appearanceBuy on Amazon
- A Rage in HarlemChester Himes · 1957 · Coffin Ed Johnson's first appearanceBuy on Amazon
