Penzler Pick, June 2001: Those of us who have been waiting for Walter Mosley to return to mystery writing--and there are many of us--have cause to rejoice. Not only has Mosley written a mystery, he is introducing a new character who could turn out to be as popular as Easy Rawlins.

Fearless Jones has a lot in common with Easy, but he also has some characteristics reminiscent of Socrates Fortlow, the "hero" of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. When the story begins, the reader is transported to the Los Angeles of the 1950s, a dangerous place and time for a black man. But Paris Minton seems to have beaten the odds. He owns a moderately successful and very satisfying business--a used book store. He spends the time he's not in the store scouring libraries for discarded books and selling them in just enough quantity to be independent and happy. Yes, he is visited on a regular basis by members of the LAPD who want him to prove to them that he did not steal the books, but that is a small price to pay for independence.

Minton's peaceful life is interrupted one day when a beautiful woman walks into his store and asks for the Reverend William Grove. In no time flat, Paris has been beaten into unconsciousness by a man following her and has been rewarded by the woman with sex. The lovely Elana Love is obviously trouble, but Paris jumps in feet first and, as a consequence, his store is burned to the ground. It is obviously time to call in Fearless Jones, a man well named. Jones is afraid of nothing, but there is a little matter to be taken care of before he can help. He's in jail and Paris must raise bail to get him out. Once he does that, the pair embark on a wild ride through Los Angeles on behalf of Elana Love. As always, Mosley depicts the hard-boiled L.A. in a powerful and distinctive way, and we can only hope that this is the first of a series. --Otto Penzler


From Publishers Weekly
HAbandoning the voice of his premier creation, Easy Rawlins, Mosley mines a new shaft of 1950s Los Angeles with a hero who combines the principles of Easy with the deadliness of Ray "Mouse" Alexander. The result is a violent, heroic and classic piece of noir fiction. Narrator Paris Minton is an appealing figure an easygoing black man for whom the written word is salvation and whose nameless used bookstore in Watts is paradise. Then the beautiful Elana Love enters his store and brings with her more trouble than Paris has ever seen enough trouble that Paris knows his only hope is his friend Fearless Jones. A former soldier, Jones is a riveting new creation. He's a man of both principle and action with an innate sense of justice and as his name makes clear, he's afraid of nothing. The novel rips along with a hunt for the girl and a race among competing factions to find a missing bond that's the key to a fortune. For the black characters it's a desperate struggle to stay alive in a white world where the deck is stacked. One sly reference tells the reader we're still in the same world and time inhabited by Easy Rawlins, and that Fearless and Mouse are equally "bad." But Fearless is also a knight-errant and hopefully destined for further adventures as fine as this one. (June 5)Forecast: With a 20-city author tour and major advertising, Mosley's first thriller since 1996's A Little Yellow Dog is sure to generate lots of interest and sales.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
After forays into sf (Blue Light, LJ 10/1/98) and short fiction (Walkin' the Dog, LJ 8/99), Mosley returns to mystery a move that is fairly certain to please fans, although with each new detective novel he seems more and more set in his own formula. Here, instead of Easy Rawlins, the upwardly aspiring World War II veteran and informal private detective, and his sociopathic friend Mouse Alexander, Mosley presents Paris Minton and Fearless Jones the first a mild-mannered yet ambitious used-book dealer, the second a homicidally dangerous yet resolutely loyal companion (and also a World War II vet). This pair investigates the burning of Minton's bookstore as well as a series of murders in 1950s Los Angeles. Mixed up in a rather convoluted plot are Jewish Holocaust survivors, Israeli secret agents, a beautiful femme fatale, some eccentric evangelicals, and other assorted characters from black L.A. Mosley is still able to convey some of the difficulties of surviving in a racist, pre-Civil Rights society, but the quirky charm and devastating mood of postwar South Central L.A. are less pronounced in this novel than in his Easy Rawlins books. Still, given Mosley's popularity, this is recommended for all libraries. Roger A. Berger, Everett Community Coll., WA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Walter Mosley's novels are marked by well-paced action and rich, evocative dialogue. This was true in his Easy Rawlings mysteries and is true again in FEARLESS JONES as he introduces Paris Minton and his war-hero buddy, Fearless Jones. The novel takes place shortly after WWII in Los Angeles, where Paris owns a used-book store. A beautiful woman rushes in and asks for his help, and within the next 24 hours, he has been beaten, made love to, robbed, and has had his bookstore burned down. With help from his friend Fearless, he attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery. Mosley writes in an open, engaging style that translates well to audio. Peter Francis James reads the tale well, giving each character enough distinctiveness that listeners can easily tell one from another. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
What appears at first blush to be a new series from Walter Mosley is, in fact, an intriguing extension of his Easy Rawlins' novels. Just as Faulkner switched the focus of his Yoknapatawpha stories from family to family, so Mosley now gives us another set of characters living in Watts in the 1950s. Bookstore owner Paris Minton, like Easy, is a fairly recent arrival in Los Angeles, and he yearns for the sense of community he felt in his all-black southern town. Those yearnings are especially poignant here, as Paris finds himself homeless after his used bookstore (he lives in the back) is burned down. When it becomes clear that whoever torched the store would like to finish the job by getting rid of the owner, Paris, no man of action, needs the help of his war-hero friend, Fearless Jones. The pair quickly finds themselves forced to navigate in uncharted territory filled with white people trying to get their hands on stolen money. The parallels to the Rawlins' novels--Paris is a slightly more bookish Easy, while Fearless suggests a sweeter but equally lethal Mouse--never feel repetitive but, instead, add depth and resonance to the series, as Mosley views his larger theme of race relations in postwar Los Angeles from a slightly new perspective. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

When a stunning and sexy woman saunters into his dusty second-hand bookstore looking for a previous tenant, Paris Minton is nearly engulfed by lust. But before long, his pursuit of this irresistible woman has destroyed his modest business and is endangering his life. Only one man, Fearless Jones, can help Paris, and he is in prison. This mystery, set in Los Angeles black neighborhoods of the '50s, is an instant noir classic.

ANNOTATION

These two Black men in 1950s Los Angeles have few rights, little money, and no recourse under attack. But they have their friends, their wits, and their knowledge of the way the world really works to help them prevail.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Paris Minton is minding his own business-a small used-book store of which he is the proud proprietor-when a beautiful woman walks in and asks a few questions. Before he knows it, Paris has been beaten up, slept with, shot at, robbed, and his bookstore has been burned to the ground. He's in so much trouble he has no choice but to get his friend Fearless Jones out of jail to help him.

Things get scary fast as they look into this woman's past, and the more they learn, the harder it gets-as black men in 1950s L.A. they have few rights, little money, and no recourse under attack.

Author Biography: Walter Mosley is the author of the acclaimed Easy Rawlins series, Blue Light and RL's Dream, and two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, for which he received the Anisfield-Wold Award, and Walkin' the Dog. He was born in Los Angeles and lives in New York.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus

...fans starved for the mean streets of Watts...will rejoice in a prose style richer and more artfully stripped down than ever in the genre's first must-read of the year...

Portland Oregonian

...begins with a bang...moves along at a clip...

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Mosley writes with characteristic punch and power, and as always, with a subtext of smoldering anger of black Americans in a pre-civil rights white world...

Dallas Morning News

...the beginning of what is sure to be another successful crime series...

Black Issues Book Review