SOURCE: "Ain't That a Shamus," in VLS, No. 109, October, 1992, p. 41.

In the following essay, Tate highlights the elements of Mosley's writing that elevate it from simple mystery fiction to a more profound examination of racial and interpersonal issues.

What makes Walter Mosley's mysteries so compelling isn't his man Easy Rawlins's powers of ratiocination but the black dick's racial metaphysics. Race politics foreshadow the action in these books the way decadence foreshadowed everything that happened in Raymond Chandler's. Mosley doesn't just raise the race card to thicken the plot. He beats you down with spades, then rubs your nose in ethnic stool. Says Easy Rawlins:

I had played the game of "cops and niggers" before. The cops pick you up, take your name and fingerprints, then they throw you into a holding tank with other "suspects" and drunks. After you were sick from the vomit and foul language they'd...