Anxious For Some Changes: Walter Mosley’s Bad Boy Brawly Brown

Life has not been easy for Easy Rawlins. After losing a dear friend just a short while early (part of A Little Yellow Dog) he is grappling with a hard-won case of grief and guilt for not doing everything he could to save that friend … So, while he’s dealing with those big feelings (or […]

Not So Violent Blood Bath: Penalty of Death (1974)

Oscar Bataille (Fernando Rey) is a French prosecutor who specializes in violent crimes, pleading punishments for murderers and fiends to the full extent of the law. He’s been a big proponent of the guillotine death penalty. Over his career, Bataille has killed dozens in this way, saving society from the burden of supporting monsters for […]

All The Dog’s Fault: Walter Mosley’s A Little Yellow Dog

As the fifth book in Walter Mosley’s mystery series opens, we find that Easy Rawlins has been living according to the promise he made to himself in the end of Black Betty. No more trouble, no more favors, no more taking money for questionable services, no more getting neck deep into danger. He’s parleyed previous […]

The World Is Changing: Walter Mosley’s Black Betty

By 1961, most of Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins’s money is tied up in real estate deals, based on some information he got five years before (in White Butterfly, in fact). It has not accrued into the millions speculated on earlier. In fact, a legal representative is trying to wheedle his money out from under both Easy […]

A Fine Historical Crime Fiction Saga: Stuart Woods’ Chiefs

In 1919, the town of Delano, Georgia was big enough to move out from under the wing of the county Sheriff’s Department and establish its own police department. All they needed was a police chief. Folks from other areas had no interest in coming to a wee burg, so anyone with experience was less than […]

Peeking Through the Veil Between Worlds: Erika T. Wurth’s White Horse

The White Horse is not just an Indian bar for urbans (indigenous folks who live in the city), it’s a piece of Denver’s history. And on the evening when Kari’s cousin Debby gives her a piece of her mother’s jewelry, it’s the doorway to the unknown. The jewelry in question is a bracelet, something Kari’s […]

A Good Cop Does Not Mean One Insanely Dedicated to Their Job: Reptile (2023)

Summer Elswick (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) is a good saleswoman and potent realtor. Working for her boyfriend Will Grady (Justin Timberlake) and his mother Camille Grady (Frances Fisher) has opened up plenty of doors, netted her numerous sales, and unknown to just about everyone it has made her a target. So, it is a terrible […]

I Have Never Discovered Any Other Subject Quite So Worthy of My Attention: Laura (1944)

When Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) was murdered in cold blood, answering a late night doorbell and winding up with a face full of buckshot, the crime quickly escalated into the realm of the mythic. Catty writer Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) had a special affection for her, you see. Her possible fiancée Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price) […]

Johnny Get Your Gun: The Blue Dahlia

When Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) comes home from the war, he’s looking forward to getting back into civilian life. The same can be said for his comrades in arms, the wounded in battle Buzz Wanchek (William Bendix) and honorably discharged George Copeland (Hugh Beaumont). However, this is not to be. When Johnny comes home, he […]

The Cold Kiss of the Dead: The Third Eye (1966)

Mino Alberti (Franco Nero) is in love, and the object of his affection, Laura (Erika Blanc), is thrilled to be his bride … well, except for two things. One of them is Mino’s mother (Olga Solbelli), who exerts an unusually strong influence on her son, and the second is the Alberti family maid Marta (Gioia […]