The novel’s setting in 1948 Los Angeles, California, takes on historical and thematic significance. In his introduction to the 30th anniversary edition of the novel, Mosley comments:

When I wrote Devil I had a simple thought in mind. I wanted to tell a story about Los Angeles that highlighted black life and the black contribution to culture within a mirror-darkly that partially reflected the American experience within a shadowy landscape of national shame. In Devil I talked about how poor black people migrated from the Deep South to Southern California, of how they flourished and ultimately failed; only to rise again, flourish again, fail again but in the end, pressing the envelope of that contest forward each and every time (iii-iv).

To that end, Mosley considers the migration from the South to the West from several angles. Easy recalls the dreams of prosperity that drew him and others to California, as well as the disappointment of discovering LA’s “workaday” lifestyle to be, somehow, “Too much!” Despite this disappointment, many migrants choose to remain, such that, when Easy visits John’s place, he jokingly estimates that “half of Houston was there” (30). In the face of the city’s crime, corruption, prejudice, and economic challenges, Easy and others like him carve out a niche of their own, including a rich cultural life: Billie Holiday and several other “big names in Negro music” are known to perform at John’s place, for instance (30).