A Red Death by Walter Mosley
"A Red Death" by Walter Mosley is a mystery novel set in 1953 during the era of McCarthyism. The story follows Easy Rawlins, a private investigator, as he navigates complex personal and societal challenges. After using the profits from his previous work to invest in rental properties, Easy's life becomes turbulent when he finds himself under investigation by an IRS agent named Lawrence. Additionally, his romantic entanglement with Etta Mae, who is estranged from her husband Mouse, complicates his circumstances further.
As Easy grapples with financial and emotional turmoil, he encounters Chaim Wenzler, a union organizer suspected of communist ties, whose influence permeates the local black churches. The plot thickens as Easy becomes embroiled in Wenzler's struggles while facing the threat of violence from Mouse and the disturbing deaths of individuals connected to him. The novel captures the intersection of race, politics, and personal loyalty, highlighting Easy's moral dilemmas as he navigates betrayal, risk, and survival in a society fraught with distrust and danger. Ultimately, themes of redemption and sacrifice play a significant role in Easy's journey, leading to poignant conclusions about loyalty and the weight of past decisions.
On this Page
A Red Death by Walter Mosley
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1991
Type of work: Novel
The Work
In A Red Death, it is now 1953, the period of McCarthyism. Easy has used the money he made in Devil in a Blue Dress to buy rental properties, which he owns secretly. He pretends to work for Mofass, his manager and rent collector. Trouble looms, however, when an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent named Lawrence targets Easy for investigation. Easy is soon facing the possibility of prison.
As if this is not enough, Etta Mae and LaMarque, Mouse’s wife and son, come up from Houston. Etta Mae is estranged from Mouse and wants to live with Easy. Easy desires Etta Mae, but he knows that living with her might put him on a collision course with Mouse. Sure enough, Mouse appears in Watts, though he spends a night partying before looking up Easy. The delay gives Easy a chance to find an apartment for Etta Mae and LaMarque.
The situation with the IRS takes a twist during Easy’s meeting with Lawrence. Desperate enough to respond violently, Easy is saved from drastic action when a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent named Craxton offers to help. Craxton says that he will patch up Easy’s problems with the IRS in return for help in nailing a union organizer and suspected communist named Chaim Wenzler. Wenzler, a Jew, is also active in several black churches, including one in Easy’s neighborhood. Easy agrees to cooperate.
Easy meets Mouse in a bar. He tells Mouse the truth about Etta Mae and LaMarque, but he honors Etta Mae’s request and refuses to tell Mouse her address. Mouse does not push the matter but warns that he will not wait forever to hear from Etta Mae.
The following morning, Easy finds the body of Poinsettia Jackson, one of his tenants, in her apartment. She appears to have hanged herself, which seems plausible in the light of her poor health and lack of money to pay rent. Easy, in fact, had been on the verge of letting Mofass evict her.
Easy takes Etta Mae to church the following Sunday morning. He hears an avid sermon against the waste of black youths in the Korean War, perhaps direct evidence of Chaim Wenzel’s influence. Easy is introduced to Chaim. Despite himself, Easy likes the man.
Easy accompanies Etta Mae home. Displaying her divorce papers, she seduces him, and the two become lovers.
Easy begins to work with Chaim. The two become friendly; the only group that Chaim seems to be linked to is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which Craxton quickly brands as “communist.” Easy does learn from one of Chaim’s former associates that Chaim has, quite by chance, come into possession of some classified documents. Easy now has enough on Chaim to satisfy the FBI.
Meanwhile, Lawrence refuses to go along with the FBI bargain and seals Easy’s home. Easy is outraged, but he is restrained by sympathetic federal marshals. A call to Craxton gets the FBI agent to work directly with Lawrence’s boss, who orders Lawrence not to bother Easy; Easy moves back into his house.
Two problems remain. Easy is Etta Mae’s lover, and the threat of Mouse looms over him. Moreover, he has become close friends with Chaim, whom he has to betray if he is to keep Craxton happy and escape his tax problems. Together with the guilt he feels over Poinsettia’s death, this situation drives Easy to drink one night while he is working at the church. Chaim and his daughter take Easy to the daughter’s house to sleep off his drunk.
The next day, Easy again confronts death when the minister and his lover are found shot to death at the church. Easy calls the police, who seem suspicious of him now that he has been involved with two deaths.
Easy is picked up by the police, who now have evidence that Poinsettia was murdered; they have also learned that Easy owns the buildings run by Mofass. The presence of a black policeman, Quinten Naylor, does not keep Easy from being roughed up, but it does allow him to make a phone call to Craxton’s office. Craxton gets him out of the lockup and puts him back on Chaim’s case.
Chaim himself is then killed, however, and a shot is taken at Easy as he brings Chaim’s daughter to his house to spend the night. Easy now thinks he knows the killer—Mofass, who has mysteriously disappeared. Enlisting the help of Mouse, Easy locates Mofass and is about to kill him. When, to Mouse’s disgust, Easy hesitates, Mofass reveals that it is Lawrence who has done the killings in an attempt to get Easy’s property. Mofass has helped because Lawrence had previously nailed him on a tax charge.
Working alone now, Easy locates the stolen classified documents and puts them into Lawrence’s possession in order to save Chaim’s reputation. He then arranges a meeting with Lawrence to check out Mofass’s story. When Lawrence jumps him, Easy is once again saved by Mouse, who shoots Lawrence dead.
In the end, Etta Mae dumps Easy for Mouse. Easy is left with the orphan Jesus, who has come back to live with him. He forgives Mofass in the light of his own partial betrayals of Mouse, Chaim, and Poinsettia.
Bibliography
Bunyan, Scott. “No Order from Chaos: The Absence of Chandler’s Extra-legal Space in the Detective Fiction of Chester Himes and Walter Mosley.” Studies in the Novel 35 (Fall, 2003): 339-365.
Carby, Hazel V. “Figuring the Future in Los(t) Angeles.” Comparative American Studies: An International Journal 1 (March, 2003): 19-34.
Chandler, Raymond. The Simple Art of Murder. Boston: Houghton, 1950.
Geherin, David. The American Private Eye: The Image in Fiction. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1985.
Gray, W. Russel. “Hard-Boiled Black Easy: Genre Conventions in A Red Death.” African American Review 38 (Fall, 2004): 489-498.
Kennedy, Liam. “Black Noir: Race and Urban Space in Walter Mosley’s Detective Fiction.” In Diversity and Detective Fiction, edited by Kathleen Gregory Klein. Bowling Green, Ohio: Popular Press, 1999.
Levecq, Christine. “Blues Poetics and Blues Politics in Walter Mosley’s RL’s Dream.” African American Review 38 (Summer, 2004): 239-256.
Lomax, Sara M. “Double Agent Easy Rawlins: The Development of a Cultural Detective.” American Visions 7 (April/May, 1992): 32-34.
Mason, Theodore O., Jr. “Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins: The Detective and Afro-American Fiction.” Kenyon Review 14 (Fall, 1992): 173-183.
Smith, David L. “Walter Mosley’s Blue Light: (Double Consciousness) Squared.” Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy 42 (Spring, 2001): 7-26.
Young, Mary. “Walter Mosley, Detective Fiction, and Black Culture.” Journal of Popular Culture 32 (Summer, 1998): 141-150.