Devil in a Blue Dress is a 1990 hardboiled mystery novel by Walter Mosley. Devil in a Blue Dress is Mosley’s first published novel, and the first book in his series featuring detective Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins. Mosley explores the complicated interplay of race, class, and identity against the backdrop of mid-20th-century Los Angeles and reckons with the violent norms of hardboiled detective fiction. Devil in a Blue Dress won critical acclaim for Mosley, who received a Shamus Award for Best First P. I. Novel. The novel was adapted into a 1995 film starring Denzel Washington as well as a 1996 BBC Radio program. Citations in this guide correspond with the 2020 Washington Square Press 30th anniversary paperback edition. Please be advised that this guide mentions abusive sexual situations, including pedophilia and incest; it also obscures use of the n-word in quoted material.

Plot Summary

In 1948 Los Angeles, California, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a Black WWII veteran who recently lost his job at an airplane manufacturing plant, accepts a temporary job looking for a woman named Daphne Monet. Desperate to make his next mortgage payment, Easy takes the job at the urging of his friend Joppy, a boxer turned bartender, despite misgivings about the ruthless white man who hires him, Dewitt Albright.

Seeking information about Daphne, Easy visits John’s place, a local nightclub, where he learns of the murder of Howard Green, who worked for corrupt political candidate Matthew Teran. He shares a few drinks with his coworker at the factory, Dupree Bouchard, and Dupree’s girlfriend, Coretta James. When Dupree passes out, Easy helps Coretta take him home. She flirts with Easy, and they have sex. Coretta reveals that she saw Daphne with gangster Frank Green not long ago. The next day, Easy meets Albright at an amusement park, where Albright humiliates a group of teenagers for harassing Easy. Easy tells Albright about Frank and Daphne.

The next morning, Easy returns to the airplane factory but fails to regain his job after he refuses to grovel to his boss. Dupree mentions that Coretta is missing. When Easy arrives home, two policemen arrest him and brutally question him for several hours. As Easy leaves the station, Matthew Teran apprehends him and questions him as well. Afterwards, Easy visits John’s place, where he learns that Coretta was murdered in the same brutal manner as Howard.

Back at home that night, Easy receives a call from Daphne, who asks for his help. He gives her a ride to her ex-boyfriend Richard McGee’s house, where they find Richard murdered in his bed. After kissing Easy goodbye, Daphne leaves in Richard’s car. Easy returns home, where he finds Albright waiting for him. He tells Albright about his outing with Daphne and agrees to track down Frank Green.

Earlier, Easy received a letter from his friend Raymond “Mouse” Alexander, whose violent past troubles Easy. Now, feeling overwhelmed, Easy sends a message to Mouse, inviting him to LA. He then visits Todd Carter, the rich businessman who hired Albright to find Daphne. He learns that Carter is in love with Daphne, but she left him when blackmailers tried to use her to manipulate Carter.

Over the next few days, Easy unsuccessfully searches for Frank. One night, Easy returns home to find Frank waiting for him. Frank is about to kill Easy when Mouse appears and attacks Frank, who escapes. As Easy leaves his house, the police arrest him for another round of questioning, during which he learns that Teran was also murdered.

Easy receives another call from Daphne. They meet up and make love at a hotel owned by one of Easy’s friends. While their guard is down, Albright and Joppy appear, knock Easy out, and take Daphne away. Easy tracks them to Albright’s home, where he finds them questioning Daphne about some money she took from Carter. Easy unsuccessfully tries to free her until Mouse appears and kills both Albright and Joppy.

Easy learns the truth about Daphne and the murders. Daphne is actually Ruby Hanks, Frank’s half-sister. She came to trust Frank after he killed her incestuous father; later she took the name Daphne and decided to pass as white. Richard, Daphne’s ex-boyfriend, joined Teran and Howard to blackmail the white Carter, who opposed Teran’s political campaign, over Daphne’s true identity as a Black woman. Daphne fled and hired Joppy to deal with them. Joppy beat up Howard, accidentally killing him; he also killed Coretta when she started asking questions. When Teran refused to back down, Daphne killed him. Meanwhile, Junior Fornay, the bouncer at John’s place, killed Richard after he refused Richard’s request to take a message to Frank Green.

Mouse and Daphne leave LA. With Carter’s help, Easy presents a story that satisfies the police without incriminating Daphne or Mouse, though he reluctantly informs on Junior. The case closed, Easy starts working as a private investigator.