Turning Pages Book Club, members would like to congratulate Walter Mosley on another great mystery novel.
This storyline takes place in the late 1960's in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, which made this storyline extra special for those of us from the "Bay Area".
Our hero the fantastic "Detective Easy Rawlins" in this story revels a sensitive side of "Easy" that has not been introduced much in the previous novels by Mr. Mosley.
Due to the fact that his daughter, "Feather" needs a life saving surgery which will cost $35,000, and this surgery will have to be done in Switzerland, it is a wonder,"Easy" can focus on the business at hand with total concentration.
As usual Mr. Mosley comes up with a unique storyline that captures the reader to the end of his novels and still asking for more. He has the unique capacity to make you laugh, angry and weep all at the same time while reading his murder/mysteries, which star non- other than "Easy", his wild, for real crazy, but always has his back-homeboy-"Mouse", and his homeboy-genius,scared of his own-shadow, friend-Jackson Blue", the person who got him into this mess, while trying to help him out, his friend Saul Lynx who is also a private investigator.
While,Mr. Mosley keeps many of his old characters he always adds new and colorful ones to this novel: Christmas Black -a Vietnam war hero/unhero and his adopted daughter, Easter Dawn, then there is the private investigator-Robert E. Lee and the star of the story "Cinnamon Cargill" and her lover Alex Bowers who have vanished for no apparent reason. Robert E. Lee, who is a Private Investigator, himself is willing to pay $10,000 up front for Ms. Cargill and Mr. Bowers to be found, with the promise of more after they are found. (Makes you want to go "hum").
Well, Easy has an offer from his friend Mouse,(who is trying to help Easy get some quick money), a set-up armed robbery scheme and then there is the offer from his friend Saul, of the simple double missing persons incident up in San Francisco? Well, what would you do, if you are an upstanding citizen in your community, role model at the school where you are employed and have children? Easy, takes the more legitimate sounding offer and heads off to San Francisco to meet Robert E. Lee for this mysterious assignment. This simple missing persons assignment takes him through San Francisco's Haight Ashberry during the prime "love and peace" era of the late 60's then across the bay to Berkeley, back and forth to Los Angles on a wild expedition to solve a mystery that seems very simple until people turn up dead and a crazed, serial killer/assassin by the name of Joe Cicero shows up on the scene. Then, everything seems to start rapidly moving throughout the story with dead bodies showing up, at every address that "Easy" is directed to shows up at and, of course all fingers are pointing at him. The first person he locates is found dead in Berkeley, and the great PI who hired him Mr. Lee, doesn't know this? Finally, when he does locate "Cinnamon Cargill", in Los Angeles,another dead body shows up at the location where she is staying. This gets to be a little unnerving for a simple missing persons investigation or is it really that simple?
This murder/mystery novel covers, crimes in history that were committed during World War II in Nazi Germany, and then brings you back to crimes during the Vietnam War.
Mr. Mosley is a very descriptive writer, who can describe a scene so vividly you could paint a picture from his words; (pg. 307-"I drove my rental car for hours, but it seemed like several days, bleeding on the steering wheel and down my....").
This murder mystery novel was so exhilarating and full of action that I just can't wait to read the next Walter Mosley mystery to see what happens next?

Turning Pages Book Club, members would like to congratulate Walter Mosley on another great mystery novel.
This storyline takes place in the late 1960's in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, which made this storyline extra special for those of us from the "Bay Area".
Our hero the fantastic "Detective Easy Rawlins" in this story revels a sensitive side of "Easy" that has not been introduced much in the previous novels by Mr. Mosley.
Due to the fact that his daughter, "Feather" needs a life saving surgery which will cost $35,000, and this surgery will have to be done in Switzerland, it is a wonder,"Easy" can focus on the business at hand with total concentration.
As usual Mr. Mosley comes up with a unique storyline that captures the reader to the end of his novels and still asking for more. He has the unique capacity to make you laugh, angry and weep all at the same time while reading his murder/mysteries, which star non- other than "Easy", his wild, for real crazy, but always has his back-homeboy-"Mouse", and his homeboy-genius,scared of his own-shadow, friend-Jackson Blue", the person who got him into this mess, while trying to help him out, his friend Saul Lynx who is also a private investigator.
While,Mr. Mosley keeps many of his old characters he always adds new and colorful ones to this novel: Christmas Black -a Vietnam war hero/unhero and his adopted daughter, Easter Dawn, then there is the private investigator-Robert E. Lee and the star of the story "Cinnamon Cargill" and her lover Alex Bowers who have vanished for no apparent reason. Robert E. Lee, who is a Private Investigator, himself is willing to pay $10,000 up front for Ms. Cargill and Mr. Bowers to be found, with the promise of more after they are found. (Makes you want to go "hum").
Well, Easy has an offer from his friend Mouse,(who is trying to help Easy get some quick money), a set-up armed robbery scheme and then there is the offer from his friend Saul, of the simple double missing persons incident up in San Francisco? Well, what would you do, if you are an upstanding citizen in your community, role model at the school where you are employed and have children? Easy, takes the more legitimate sounding offer and heads off to San Francisco to meet Robert E. Lee for this mysterious assignment. This simple missing persons assignment takes him through San Francisco's Haight Ashberry during the prime "love and peace" era of the late 60's then across the bay to Berkeley, back and forth to Los Angles on a wild expedition to solve a mystery that seems very simple until people turn up dead and a crazed, serial killer/assassin by the name of Joe Cicero shows up on the scene. Then, everything seems to start rapidly moving throughout the story with dead bodies showing up, at every address that "Easy" is directed to shows up at and, of course all fingers are pointing at him. The first person he locates is found dead in Berkeley, and the great PI who hired him Mr. Lee, doesn't know this? Finally, when he does locate "Cinnamon Cargill", in Los Angeles,another dead body shows up at the location where she is staying. This gets to be a little unnerving for a simple missing persons investigation or is it really that simple?
This murder/mystery novel covers, crimes in history that were committed during World War II in Nazi Germany, and then brings you back to crimes during the Vietnam War.
Mr. Mosley is a very descriptive writer, who can describe a scene so vividly you could paint a picture from his words; (pg. 307-"I drove my rental car for hours, but it seemed like several days, bleeding on the steering wheel and down my....").
This murder mystery novel was so exhilarating and full of action that I just can't wait to read the next Walter Mosley mystery to see what happens next?

I read it in three nights, just fantastic from start to finish. Highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys great mysteries and suspense.

If you like Easy Rollins you will like this. It is that simple. Walter Moseley seems to get better with age and so does Easy. He smarter, deeper and more sensitive. Great read. If you haven't read any of this series start further back with Devil in The Blue Dress or Black Betty. But it's all good.

Easy Rawlin's is hired by a world famous PI (who models himself after Civil War General Robert E. Lee) to find a young black woman called Cinnamon. Easy takes the job only because his daughter Feather is in need of an experimental and costly medical procedure outside of the US. Easy finds that he is not the only person in search of Cinnamon. He, and his family are soon threatened. Despite the odds, Easy continues his search and uncovers a secret that people are willing to kill for it. This is a very well written novel that immediately pulls you into the story. Walter Mosley's descriptions of people and places are vivid and real. If you have a chance to read this, I would highly recommend that you do.

Lost Hours
Xiii

I'm a great fan of Walter Mosley and specifically his always reluctant hero, Easy Rawlins. Once I finished "Little Scarlet" (loved it!!), I revelled in the afterglow of that one before I began "Cinnamon Kiss". Once again Mr. Mosley's writing is descriptive and visual, effectively placing the reader on Easy's shoulder...watching all the action. Surrounded by intrigue and beautiful women, Easy seems almost overmatched as he simultaneously grapples with some life-changing domestic issues. Although Mr. Mosley still weaves his artful spell over us with his layered and textured writing style, at times I found myself yelling at Easy for his lapses in good judgement and knew it was only a matter of time before he allowed his emotions to overrule his common sense. In spite of this, "Cinnamon Kiss" faithfully portrays how America began to morph into a more accepting society...the hippies, the shift in racial attitudes, the blending of our nation. And, the complex plot keeps you guessing from start to finish. The wrap up of the case is very clever and made me smile, the wrap up with his personal life...not so much. Nonetheless, Walter you are still my hero and I can only hope that my novel Native Intelligence will help me build a fan base as loyal as yours.

Another great mystery adventure from Walter Mosley. I never try to figure out whodunit, I just enjoy the ride through another time in history that Mosley helps me remember like it was yesterday. That same assemblage of old friends, Mouse, Jackson Blue, Mama Jo from the other Easy Rawlins stories I love so well. OK, it's predictable; Easy is always just a hair on the shady side of the law, in danger for his own life, cherishing his friendships and his children, and easily falling into lust over a new woman.

I love the way Mosley paints my people, skin the color of bark, or like gold, or cinnamon, you can almost touch their muscle or softness, smell their earthiness. I have to laugh at the details; we know how long it's been since Easy has eaten, or smoked a cigarette, or even been to the bathroom.

Mosley ties up all the loose ends of the people who came into the story, but he leaves you waiting for the next adventure when maybe Easy will fix his own loose ends.

Mosley makes it look easy. A complex flawed character that continues to hold our interest 11 books into a series. A prize for readers.

Every time I've returned to the world of Easy Rawlings, I have to kick myself for staying away for as long as I have. With each book it seems Mosely taps into a fresh raw barrel of emotions about race, the sexes, and the violence that human beings are capable of. But beyond the mystery, which here involves Easy helping to find a missing man who has some incriminating documents, the real appeal of the books to me are his personal relationships with his children and girlfriend Bonnie. Here Mosley lays bare the trappings of an endlessly complex and fascinating character, who I think is one of the best in modern mysteries today.

Walter Mosley is a master. His Easy Rawlins books are not designed to be mindnumbingly deep and complex (although they are not light reading) but are designed to be interesting, informative and a learning experience.

Easy is getting older, he is 46 and the year is 1966. He needs money quickly for his child's operation and given the choice of her dying or doing a robbery, he is going the dark path.

Enter his friend Saul with a job offer that leads him to see the darkness that man can do.

Top read.

Walter really surprised me in this one. I heard good things about his writting. Story was way slow, it just didn't keep me interested. The only reason I finished it is because my book club read it.

CINNAMON KISS opens with Easy Rawlins struggling with the thought of robbing an armored car in order to provide his daughter, Feather an expensive medical treatment. Though Easy has operated outside the law before, this "sure thing" his friend Mouse has presented him with provides Easy a considerable amount of angst.
Then another friend, Saul Lynx,(William H. Macy in my movie version--HA!) offers Easy a more palatable job investigating the disappearance of an eccentric attorney whose assistant of sorts, the beautiful and mysterious Philomena "Cinnamon" Cargill, is gone as well. Easy's new employer, Robert Lee, is as suspect as the man who disappeared.
In CINNAMON KISS Mosley deftly takes the reader on a journey from the hate and racism of World War II Germany to free love and acid trippin' in California's Haight-Ashbury in the 1960's.
This smart, witty novel is WM at his best. It's a perfect mystery that pulls the reader in from the opening scene and drops him right into the action---and there's plenty of it---with memorable characters (Christmas Black and old favorites Mouse and Blue) and believable storylines that blend to make this a perfectly enjoyable read. This is the best Easy Rawlins novel I've read in a long time. CK would make an excellent movie and I hope it's brought to the screen.
ChocolateSleuth.com Rating: 5 Handcuffs.
Oh, yeah...the end saddened me about Easy's love relationship. This book has everything. I was totally satisfied.

Walter Mosley is one of the most versatile writers laboring in the field of modern fiction. Best known for his mysteries concerning Los Angeles private investigator Easy Rawlins, Mosley is not afraid to turn his talents to other genres, whether it be non-specific genre fiction, fantasy, or essays.

Rawlins, however, remains Mosley's most popular character from a commercial standpoint. Part hard-boiled, part historical fiction, part.something else, the book, like Mosley, defies easy classification. Rawlins moves through mid-20th century America part invisible man, part very visible man, a good man in a very bad world who is aware that survival depends on compromise but who ultimately remains true to himself.

CINNAMON KISS, Mosley's latest Easy Rawlins novel, is set in the mid-1960s. It is the Summer of Love, but Rawlins' concerns are much more basic. His daughter,Feather, is in need of immediate medical treatment that costs much more money than Rawlins could beg for or borrow. When Mouse, Rawlins's friend and occasional partner, approaches him with the prospect of a heist with minimal risk and a large payoff, Rawlins is tempted to compromise his principles for the greater good of financing Heather's treatment.

However, salvation comes from another direction, when Rawlins's friend Saul Lynx approaches him with a more legitimate offer. Robert Lee, an enigmatic private investigator in San Francisco, has been hired to locate Axel Bowers, a prominent Bay-area attorney, and his assistant, the beautiful and mysterious Cinnamon Cargill. Bowers and Cargill have gone missing with some documents belonging to Lee's client, who is willing to pay dearly to get them back.

Rawlins is able to find Bowers easily enough, but Cargill has seemingly vanished into the wind. In his search for Cargill, Rawlins learns that he is not only racing against the clock but also against a deadly assassin whose name is enough to cause even the most dangerous of men to exercise caution. Rawlins soon learns that he is a part of something far more extensive than a document retrieval matter, and that his involvement is bringing not only himself but also his friends and family into terrible danger.

CINNAMON KISS is perhaps the most ambitious of Mosley's Rawlins novels, and arguably his best. He avoids the overly complex plotting that has occasionally overtaken some of his other fine work, and instead chooses to focus on his always interesting and multi-dimensional characters. There are enough of them here to fill three books. One of the most interesting is Robert Lee, could be the basis for a series all by himself. Mosley's description of the man and his home are worth the price of admission alone, and it would be quite interesting to see Lee's and Mosley's paths cross uneasily a time or two again.

And, as with other Rawlins novels, CINNAMON KISS concludes with some resolutions and some beginnings, the better to prepare the legion of readers of this fine series for the next volume. It can't come too soon.

African-American private detective Easy Rawlings needs twenty-five thousand dollars in a hurry. His beautiful daughter is dying and a Swiss clinic may have the cure, but they want their money. He's even considering an armored car robbery, set up through his friend Mouse--although he's kept relatively straight for years. When another friend, white detective Saul calls him with a job that might pay ten thousand dollars to find a missing person, he jumps at the chance. The missing person is dead, but Easy learns that there is more than just a missing person--old bonds and an old letter offer evidence that an American company provided war materials to Hitler during World War II. Murders have been committed to protect less--and a paid assassin seems to have involved himself.

Author Walter Mosley writes convincingly of the 1960s--mostly in Watts, as that neighborhood remains in shock from the riots that destroyed virtually every business in town, but also in Berkley and San Francisco at the hopeful dawn of the hippie movement. Mosley manages a skillful balance between insight into a man's life and the mystery itself. Easy finds himself relying on his friends, worrying about women, inexplicably attractive to multiple women, and earning the grudging respect of a detective he wishes he didn't like.

Easy Rawlings is a fascinating protagonist, and CINAMMON KISS is a delight to read both because of the insights it provides into the African-American community, and the insights it provides into humanity. Mosley's strong writing drags the reader into the story and makes this a hard book to put down. I have no hesitation in recommending CINAMMON KISS.

The mystery is almost secondary to the latest Easy Rawlins mystery. Instead, the focus is placed squarely on Easy and his troubles and what he'll do or won't do to solve them. Faced with adopted daughter Feather's life-threatening illness, Easy momentarily considers taking part in an armored-car heist with friend, Mouse, before cooler heads prevail and he finds himself in hippie-rich San Francisco, aiding PI friend Saul Lynx. Still, he can't put Feather and her troubles out of his mind. Plus, there's something about his girlfriend, Bonnie, that keeps nagging at him. Easy's sad and depressed throughout much of the novel, though he also has several moments of insight into the wide variety of friendships he's developed over the years: there's the psychotic Mouse, who would literally do anything for him; there's con man/genius Jackson Blue, newly settled into a respectable job with a bank; there's Saul Lynx, his white PI friend, married to a black woman and facing realities of that situation in 1966 California. There's also the newly-introduced Christmas Black and his adopted daughter, Easter Dawn. Black's a former black-ops soldier, newly returned from Vietnam, where he killed one village too many. Black's someone even Mouse instinctively respects and I wouldn't be surprised to see him make an appearance in subsequent books. Indeed, male friendship seems to be one of the dominant themes in the book and how it helps Easy get through his trials and tribulations. This is a series that got off to a strong start at the very beginning and just gets richer and richer as time goes by. Highly recommended.

Reviewing this book with any thought of talking about the plot simply wouldn't work. The plot is mundane at best. The hero, Easy Rawlins needs $35,000 for an operation for his daughter. Since he's on the maintenance staff at a public school, $35,000 is about the same as $35 million. So what to do, what to do. The answer of course, is a risky, all but impossible task, and decidedly safer than robbing an armored car as suggested by his buddy Mouse.

The story takes place in the Watts area of Los Angeles shortly after the riots of 1965. The strength of the story comes from Mr. Mosley's having grown up in Los Angeles during this time. He presents the background, the characters, and describes some of the cultural changes taking place in the wake of the civil rights movement.

I was also fascinated by the terminology he uses for skin color. Something we wouldn't normally thing about. Like the Eskimo with many words for snow, he has a dozen or more skin tones, from shades of black to 'high yellow,' and of course 'Cinamon Kiss.'

If you are new to Easy Rawlins and Walter Mosley you are in for a treat. Better than the others, I can't say, too much of that depends on the readers, but clearly very, very good.

You've got to love Easy Rawlins. A Houston-born veteran of World War II relocated to South Central L.A., Ezekiel Rawlins has spent twenty years and several previous novels building a life for himself based on ambition, intelligence, integrity, common sense and "family values". In the unsettled world he inhabits, this combination of traits easily makes him, as one character in this story observes, "the most dangerous man in any room you're in."

As the story opens, Easy faces a personal crisis. His adopted daughter needs expensive medical care, which means that Easy must put his hands on some cash, quickly. Two opportunities present themselves. Raymond Alexander -- one of the most intriguing characters in crime fiction -- offers Easy the chance to participate in a well-planned armed robbery in Texas. Alternatively, a detective colleague needs help on a missing person assignment from a shadowy employer in San Francisco. Easy chooses the second, straighter path. Of course, the ensuing twists, turns and homicides make the armed robbery look like an afternoon walk in the park.

Mosley is at the top of his game in this novel. Easy continues to grow and confront issues of love and family. The characters with whom he surrounds himself -- at least those who have survived -- also seem to have mellowed somewhat with age. Previous books in the series have seen Easy "solving problems for people" against a changing social background that has included the rise of black militantism and the Watts riots. This story takes place in the Vietnam era, where Apocalypse Now meets the Age of Aquarius. However, the focus remains where the action is: the inner motivations of complex characters doing what it takes to get by in the world.

This subject matter never grows stale. Readers can delight in the continuation of this finely conceived and well-executed series of detective stories that capture the flavor of recent black cultural history and remind us that nobility is found in many places.

You've got to love Easy Rawlins. A Houston-born veteran of World War II relocated to South Central L.A., Ezekiel Rawlins has spent twenty years and several previous novels building a life for himself based on ambition, intelligence, integrity, common sense and "family values". In the unsettled world he inhabits, this combination of traits easily makes him, as one character in this story observes, "the most dangerous man in any room you're in."

As the story opens, Easy faces a personal crisis. His adopted daughter needs expensive medical care, which means that Easy must put his hands on some cash, quickly. Two opportunities present themselves. Raymond Alexander -- one of the most intriguing characters in crime fiction -- offers Easy the chance to participate in a well-planned armed robbery in Texas. Alternatively, a detective colleague needs help on a missing person assignment from a shadowy employer in San Francisco. Easy chooses this second, straighter path. Of course, the action that ensues makes the armed robbery look like a harmless walk in the park.

Mosley is at the top of his game in this novel. Easy continues to grow and confront issues of love and family, and the characters with whom he surrounds himself -- at least those who have survived -- also seem to have mellowed somewhat with age. Previous books in the series have seen Easy operating against a changing social background that has included the rise of black militantism and the Watts riots. This story takes place in the Vietnam era, where Apocalypse Now meets the Age of Aquarius. However, the focus remains where the action is: the inner motivations of complex characters doing what it takes to get by in the world.

This subject matter never grows stale, and readers can delight in this continuation of a finely conceived and well-executed series of stories that capture the essence of our recent history and remind us that nobility can be found in many unlikely places.

This is the best of the best. The story starts off with Easy trying to get money so his daughter Feather can get best treatment possible for her blood infection. So has the choice to rob a bank with Mouse or take this job for Robert Lee who wants him to find a woman named Cinnamon. Nothing is as it seems but you will never be bored. You must get this book. Easy does it again.

Easy Rawlins is back in Walter Mosley's tenth novel in the series and is better than ever. He is so polished, shrewd, cool in the best sense of the word and altogether human. This time he is faced with every parent's nightmare, the possibility of a young child's dying from a rare illness. Most of the action is about his efforts-- by whatever means available-- to raise the necessary cash for expensive treatment for his daughter Feather in a hospital in Switzerland. Easy's woman Bonnie-- or is she?-- is back, along with his buddy Mouse and a host of other characters we remember from earlier novels. Mr. Mosley is nothing if not creative and we'd better not take him for granted. This is evident in the way this story ends; we see that Easy will go in a different direction in the next novel in the series.

As always, Mr. Mosley writes in concise, precise understated language. He is introspective about race in these United States in the 1960's-- sadly sometimes it seems as if little has changed since then-- without being didactic. He through Easy makes profound statements about the world: having a sense of humor is the best test of intelligence, black men who kill innocent people in far-away countries are no better than the whites who lynched blacks. Finally in Easy's own words when he and Mouse, as they are making a call from a phone booth, are approached by two white cops and questioned: "Most Americans wouldn't understand why two well-dressed men would have to explain why they were standing on a public street. But most Americans cannot comprehend the scrutiny that black people have been under since the days we were dragged here in bondage."

Even though Mr. Mosley always writes about race his characters are not just black and white. He has as many ways to describe skin color as Eskimos have of names for snow. In addition to just "brown," there is "medium brown," "toasted brown," "coffee brown," "high brown like a polished pecan," "light brown sugar," "sepia hue." Then we have "light-skinned," "sandpaper toned," and "high-yellow." Darker colors go from "walnut shelled," "almost jet skin," "dark-colored," the "color of tree bark," "dark-skinned," "very black,"-- and my favorite-- "skin black as an undertaker's shoes." Finally there are the reddish tones: "reddish-brown plantain" skin, "reddish hue," "terra cotta colored" and of course the beautiful character Cinnamon Cargill whose skin is described as "cinnamon red."

It is such a pleasure to read a new Rawlins mystery. Easy in a beautiful passage describes missing Bonnie and loneliness. "Never before could I fully trust another human being. If it was five in the morning and I'd been out all night I could call her [Bonnie] and she'd be there as fast as she could. . . Being with her made me understand how lonely I'd been for all my wandering years. But being alone again made me feel that I was back in the company of an old friend." Reading Mosley is just like being with an old friend. I have never read a better mystery writer.

I may read 25-35 books a year but they are just something to do until the next Easy Rawlins joint. Mosley is the coolest cat to ever pick up a pen and this book shows that. The verbiage was on full display once again and the story was riveting. We also get a healthy dose of Mouse and I absolutely love the mouse character. A new character was introduced and I hope we get to see him in future installments. Easy is getting older but the books are getting better and the stories more woven.

Tough, gentle. Melancholy, euphoric. Actor/writer Michael Boatman is able to convey all of these emotions with his voice, and he does it to perfection in his reading of Walter Mosley's latest in the popular Easy Rawlins series.

Many will remember Boatman from his numerous TV appearances, especially in the role of Carter Heywood on "The Administration." However TV appearances are just the tip of the iceberg for this talented actor. His stage credits include such diverse plays as "The Seagull" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." A native of Colorado Springs, he is now at work on his second novel.

Doubtless the iconic Easy Rawlins is one of the most popular characters in crime fiction. While some series protagonists may tend to become stale, that is never the case with Easy. With "Cinnamon Kiss" listeners are once again returned to the 1960s as Easy faces one of his most daunting personal crises - his young daughter, Feather, has contracted a rare disease. This may be fatal for the girl unless Easy can come up with $35,000 for treatment at a Swiss clinic. It seems to be an unattainable figure.

His pal, Mouse, has a quick fix - they could rob an armored car. Easy backs away from that and accepts a job to find two missing persons. One of the now-you-see-him, now-you-don't persons is a well to do lawyer, and the other is his gorgeous assistant, Cinnamon.

Sound easy? Never so for Easy. He travels to California for his first look at communes and hippies. However, that's about all he sees - no signs of the missing. What he does find is murder trailing in his wake, and he has no idea why.

No one crafts a crime thriller like Walter Mosley - listen and enjoy.

- Gail Cooke

Tough, gentle. Melancholy, euphoric. Actor/writer Michael Boatman is able to convey all of these emotions with his voice, and he does it to perfection in his reading of Walter Mosley's latest in the popular Easy Rawlings series.

Many will remember Boatman from his numerous TV appearances, especially in the role of Carter Heywood on "The Administration." However TV appearances are just the tip of the iceberg for this talented actor. His stage credits include such diverse plays as "The Seagull" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." A native of Colorado Springs, he is now at work on his second novel.

Doubtless the iconic Easy Rawlings is one of the most popular characters in crime fiction. While some series protagonists may tend to become stale, that is never the case with Easy. With "Cinnamon Kiss" listeners are once again returned to the 1960s as Easy faces one of his most daunting personal crises - his young daughter, Feather, has contracted a rare disease. This may be fatal for the girl unless Easy can come up with $35,000 for treatment at a Swiss clinic. It seems to be an unattainable figure.

His pal, Mouse, has a quick fix - they could rob an armored car. Easy backs away from that and accepts a job to find two missing persons. One of the now-you-see-him, now-you-don't persons is a well to do lawyer, and the other is his gorgeous assistant, Cinnamon.

Sound easy? Never so for Easy. He travels to California for his first look at communes and hippies. However, that's about all he sees - no signs of the missing. What he does find is murder trailing in his wake, and he has no idea why.

No one crafts a crime thriller like Walter Mosley - listen and enjoy.

- Gail Cooke

Walter Mosley is one of the most versatile writers laboring in the field of modern fiction. Best known for his mysteries concerning Los Angeles private investigator Easy Rawlins, Mosley is not afraid to turn his talents to other genres as his whimsy takes him, whether it be non-specific genre fiction, fantasy, or essays. Rawlins, however, remains Mosley's most popular character from a commercial standpoint. Part hard-boiled, part historical fiction, part...something else, the book, like Mosley, defies easy classification. Rawlins moves through mid-20th century America part invisible man, part very visible man, a good man in a very bad world who is aware that survival depends on compromise but who ultimately remains true to himself.

CINNAMON KISS, Mosley's latest Easy Rawlins novel, is set in the mid-1960s. It is the Summer of Love, but Rawlins's concerns are much more basic. His daughter, Feather, is in need of immediate medical treatment that costs much more money than Rawlins could beg for or borrow. When Mouse, Rawlins's erstwhile friend and occasional partner, approaches him with the prospect of a heist with minimal risk and a large payoff, Rawlins is tempted to compromise his principles for the greater good of financing Heather's treatment.

Salvation comes from another direction, however, when Rawlins's friend Saul Lynx approaches him with a more legitimate offer. Robert Lee, an enigmatic private investigator in San Francisco, has been hired to locate Axel Bowers, a prominent Bay-area attorney, and his assistant, the beautiful and mysterious Cinnamon Cargill. Bowers and Cargill have gone missing with some documents belonging to Lee's client, who is willing to pay dearly to get them back. Rawlins is able to find Bowers easily enough, but Cargill has seemingly vanished into the wind. In his search for Cargill, Rawlins learns that he is not only racing against the clock but also against a deadly assassin whose name is enough to cause even the most dangerous of men to exercise caution. Rawlins soon learns that he is a part of something far more extensive than a document retrieval matter, and that his involvement is bringing not only himself but also his friends and family into terrible danger.

CINNAMON KISS is perhaps the most ambitious of Mosley's Rawlins novels, and arguably his best. He eschews the overly complex plotting that has occasionally overtaken some of his other fine work, and instead chooses to focus on his always interesting and multi-dimensional characters. There are enough of them here to fill three books. One of the most interesting is Robert Lee, who could be the basis for a series all by himself. Mosley's description of the man and his home are worth the price of admission alone, and it would be quite interesting to see Lee's and Mosley's paths cross uneasily a time or two again.

And, as with other Rawlins novels, CINNAMON KISS concludes with some resolutions and some beginnings, the better to prepare the legion of readers of this fine series for the next volume. It can't come too soon.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I finished Walter Mosely's latest book (Cinnamon Kiss) a few days ago and I'm still reeling from the effect it had on me. It's hard to believe that each Easy Rawlins book continues to be better than the last.
The story line is excellent and the writing tight (for Mr. Mosley, who can sometimes get caught up in descriptions, but I guess when it comes to mystery writing it is important to give the details). This one is not quite as violent as some of the others but it has all of the drama Mosley readers have come to know and enjoy. You can also count on visits from your favorite old friends: Mouse, Primo, Jackson Blue, Etta etc. as well meeting a few new ones. These secondary characters are indeed dynamic in their own right and second to none.
The thing that makes Easy Rawlins one of the greatest characters to ever grace the page is his humanity. Although he is the quintessential hero; helping others during their greatest times of need, Easy Rawlins underneath it all, is just a man. A man suffering from doubt, heartache and a heart felt desire to do right, in spite of the fact that right is rarely done to him. It is his constant internal struggle that gives this character and these books depth, and that special something to take them past good to extraordinary.
If you are new to the on going saga of the most famous African -American private detective in modern literature, do yourself a favor and introduce yourself to Easy. You'll be so happy you did. If you are among the millions who have been initiated into the world of the Easy Rawlins Mysteries, why are you wasting time reading reviews, go out and cop this book now! Believe it or not, it may well be the best of series yet.

In 1968 Los Angeles with the Watts riot over but fresh in everyone's minds Easy Rawlins needs money to take his beloved daughter Feather to the specialized Bonatelle Clinic in Switzerland; the cost is $35,000. At the Cox Bar, his pal Mouse suggests they hold up an armored vehicle, but after almost running over a mother with babies, Easy decides that is to dangerous of an approach to gaining the money especially since he is over the edge and fears everything will go wrong and then his daughter will have nobody.

Instead he obtains work from a white friend, private investigator Saul Lynx who gets him a job in San Francisco with mysterious sleuth Robert E. Lee to locate two missing persons for $10K. Though expecting treachery as no one outside of entertainment pays a black man with cash, Easy searches for wealthy attorney Axel Bowers and his assistant lover, Cinnamon Cargill, who have vanished.

The easy Rawlins late 1960s tales are some of the best historical suspense thrillers on the market over the past few years. CINNAMON KISS is a terrific tale that once again showcases the lot of a black man in 1968 California while providing a deep light on the period. Easy is fabulous struggling to send his beloved child to Europe for treatment that is not available in L.A. If you have not read his adventures you are missing a treat because his escapades are enlightening and entertaining.

Harriet Klausner

I have followed the adventures of Easy Rawlins since he first appeared in "Devil in a Blue Dress" and he returns in Walter Mosley's latest novel. As a father, Easy is faced with that age-old dilemma: having to do anything possible to provide for the needs of his family. His adopted daughter Feather has been stricken with a rare blood disease. It's curable but the treatment will cost $35,000. Money that Easy doesn't have and won't have for a very long time working as a plant manager for an LAUSD elementary school. He must choose between a quick illegal option offered to him by his old friend "Mouse" or a legal one that involves the investigation of a missing person, one Philomena Cargill. As a man, Easy maintains that same coolness that he possessed as a younger man. He is a James Bond type. All the women are attracted to him. Keep in mind he's no youngster anymore. Easy is in his late forties. Opportunities for love/sex abound for our main character and yet he tries to maintain some balance in this regard because of Bonnie. As a friend, Easy is always there for the people who are important to him. And there are a lot of them here. He and Mouse share some memorable moments together. I really enjoy the way the two men interact with one another.

Mosley never allows us to forget how dangerous the world of Easy Rawlins is. There is death (or at least the potential for it) in every turn of the page. The book is peopled with dangerous characters. You just know when Mouse shows up someone is bound to die. Surprisingly, very few people actually get killed. However, something really horrific is done to the body of one of the victims. Mosley describes in detail exactly how it looks and then resurrects it in one of Easy's many dreams.

Mosley moves us through the city of Los Angeles during 1966, less than a year after the Watts Riots. There is still extensive physical destruction and an uneasiness between blacks and whites. In one scene Easy and "Blue" enter an art gallery in Beverly Hills. Even though they are both dressed in suits, the owner calls the local police because she is suspicious of them because they are black and for no other reason. (I remember those days really well.)

Easy spends some time in San Francisco where he briefly rubs shoulders with the counter culture in and around the Haight. Then in an unexpected turn of events, he also has to drive to Riverside. Not once but twice.

There are tiny details in the story that never allow the reader to forget when the story takes place. Mosley could have easily had Rawlins simply have his credit card declined, but he tells us its a BankAmericard. Then there is the 213 area code that was the area's only area code for the longest time. Now, it's hard to find what remains of it.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. Finally, what's neat about it is this: even though it's the tenth novel featuring Easy Rawlins, you can start here and not feel like you have miss too much. However, there are so many allusions to the previous books, you'll want to go back and read the ones you missed or read them all again.

Just when you think you have Easy all figured out, he surprises you again. Easy latest adventure begins with Mouse. He is torn between helping his lifelong partner with robbing an armoured car or solving a mystery to get money for his daughter, Feather, who is suffereing from a rare blood disease. As always there are many twist and turns to the story and a lot of history. Easy and Mouse encounter a lot of bad people and we also visit some friends from their past, Jackson Blue, Jewell, and Etta.

Mosley's writing is Unspeakable. It is sexy, mysterious, and dark; yet it keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book. You can never go wrong with reading one of his mysteries. As the reader you are left safisfied but eager for that next jolt of excitement. Needless to say I am also disappointed because I have to wait for the next story.

I love the way Easy and Mouse have matured (The picture of Mosley is kind-0f how I picture Easy at this point ^_^) The end of the story will leave you speechless.

Thank Mr. Mosely for another great ride.
Peace and Blessings!!