Books like White Butterfly (Easy Rawlins Mysteries) by Walter Mosley
Los Angeles, 1956. Detective and defendant go hand in hand as a string of black teenage deaths finally catch the attention of the police—only for them to recruit Easy Rawlins, a former private investigator turned family man, under duress. When a white college student is murdered in the same brutal fashion, the authorities pressure Easy to cooperate, threatening his friend’s freedom unless he assists. Now, Easy walks the midnight streets of Watts, confronting power structures and a cunning killer lurking in both black and white neighborhoods.
First publish date: 1992
Genre: Mystery & Detective/Private Investigator
Authors: Walter Mosley
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Books similar to White Butterfly (Easy Rawlins Mysteries) (24 similar books)
Detective Harry Bosch is drawn into a chilling series of ritual murders that threaten Los Angeles, forcing him to confront the city’s darkness and his own past.
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When a Los Angeles jogger is shot, her rich Hispanic father hires disgraced ex‑police investigator Joe Pike, sparking a tense clash between Pike and a skeptical police force.
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Ninety‑one‑year‑old Ptolemy Grey, battling dementia in his Los Angeles apartment, is rescued from isolation by Robyn Small. After a medical experiment restores his mind, he delves into the mystery surrounding his great‑nephew’s drive‑by shooting death.
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During the Summer of Love, Easy Rawlins balances the crisis of his daughter’s expensive medical treatment with a dangerous plan involving an armored car heist, a mysterious disappearance, and a web of deception that stretches from LA’s hippie scene to a European tragedy.
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Walter Mosley's debut Easy Rawlins mystery follows the young black veteran as he hunts a vanished Frenchwoman in post‑war Los Angeles, exploring the city's underbelly and the cost of justice for African Americans.
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In 1953 Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is accused of tax evasion and offered a deal by FBI Agent Darryl Craxton: infiltrate a church to spy on a suspected communist organizer. Secrets unravel as murders begin.
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Farmer Woolf is a courageous father who discovers an unexpected treasure hidden beneath his antique farm. When he opens the mysterious chest, he unveils a key that could change the fate of the village forever.
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Unwilling detective Easy Rawlins is drawn into a tangled mystery when his friend’s daughter turns up seeking help; a search for a missing Vietnam veteran intersects family drama, betrayal, and danger on L.A.’s streets.
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Easy Rawlins is hired by the LAPD to resolve a hostage crisis when a boxer‑turned‑revolutionary kidnaps a weapons manufacturer’s daughter, threatening a dramatic standoff.
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After surviving a near‑fatal car crash, Easy Rawlins roams the Sunset Strip of late 1960s Los Angeles, turning his keen sense as a private investigator into a quest to find a missing young African‑American.
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Easy Rawlins returns to Los Angeles in Walter Mosley’s gritty mystery, where a new detective agency tackles a homicide that casts suspicion on a child as a potential murderer.
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After a brutal home invasion kills his family, ex‑police officer Frank Meyer is accused of murder. Private investigators Joe Pike and Elvis Cole uncover a tangled web of crime, betrayal and vengeance in Los Angeles.
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In the 21st‑century Manhattan of Walter Mosley’s new saga, former boxer turned private investigator Leonid McGill prowls a city steeped in secrets, balancing family, crime, and his own code of ethics.
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Walter Mosley's acclaimed detective series continues as former K9 officer Leonid McGill navigates political intrigue, family burdens, and a missing‑person case in modern Manhattan.
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Socrates Fortlow, a hardened ex‑convict from Los Angeles, tackles crime and justice in Walter Mosley’s engaging detective narrative.
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In 1960s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins, a former detective turned ordinary citizen, is pulled back into mystery when an old friend’s trouble forces him to help again.
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When a white man is seized by a mob during the 1965 Los Angeles riots, a red‑haired woman named Little Scarlet is found dead in the same building. Private eye Easy Rawlins takes the case, uncovering a killer fueled by racial fury and the city’s turbulent soul.
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Joe King Oliver, an ex-NYPD investigator turned private detective, returns to New York to clear his name after being framed for assault.
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In South Central Los Angeles, sixty‑year‑old ex‑convict Socrates Fortlow gathers a diverse group to form a Thinkers’ Club, where questions about race, justice, and morality spark a quiet revolution.
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Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, a former street‑wise detective now working as a high school custodian and family man, is drawn back into the urban underworld to solve a series of violent crimes that the police cannot tackle.
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In 1961 Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins, a private detective, is hired to find Black Betty, a housekeeper whose allure has caused chaos. A race‑laden investigation leads Rawlins into a dangerous maze of revenge and identity.
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Easy Rawlins, a young African‑American private investigator, faces the complexities of friendship and morality on a trip to rural Texas in this early case of the Long Beach mystery series.
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A 1950s Los Angeles mystery where a bookshop owner, Paris Minton, enlists his tough friend Fearless Jones to solve a murder, blackmail, and a vanished cousin amid dangerous racial tensions.
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