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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Murder; the riots and their violence; racial violence depicted throughout
Language
Some
Moderate language; period vernacular; period racial language in historical context
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild; adult relationships in Easy's life
Substance Use
Some
Moderate; the bar culture of Watts; some drinking
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Very strong; the Watts Riots as both setting and moral weight; what it means to solve a Black woman's murder in a city that doesn't value Black lives; Easy's particular position between the LAPD and his community
What this book is about
The ninth Easy Rawlins mystery is set in the immediate aftermath of the Watts Riots: Los Angeles in August 1965, still smoking, with the LAPD desperately trying to prevent another explosion. Easy is asked to find whoever killed a woman in a red dress during the riots. Mosley uses the riots as a setting with the same moral intelligence he's brought to postwar LA throughout the series — the Watts section of the city finally center stage.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Racial violence and slurs in historical Civil Rights era context
Riots depicted
Reader Verification
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