SOURCE: "L. A. Raw," in The New York Times Book Review, June 5, 1994, p. 13.

Gifford is a novelist and critic. In the following review, he observes that with his fourth Easy Rawlins novel, Black Betty, Mosley "beats hell out of most of today's contenders for consideration as the top-ranking writer in the mystery division."

In Black Betty, Walter Mosley writes like a boxer who throughout his career has campaigned as a lightweight or welterweight and now, because he can no longer shed the necessary pounds, is forced to fight as a middleweight. To go the full 12 rounds a good fighter has to pace him-self, and Mr. Mosley, in his fourth novel about the black Los Angeles private eye Easy Rawlins, still seems slightly unsure, not of his capacity to endure the distance but rather of just how far to extend himself per round. However, Mr. Mosley beats hell out...