Paris owns a bookstore in L.A. in the '50s. It ought to be a quiet life, which is what he wants. When his cousin Ulysses stops by, Paris sends him away. Because Ulysses - or "Useless" as everyone but his mother calls him - always brings trouble with him.
But Paris can find his own trouble. Like sleeping with a girl whose previous relationship is not quite as over as she claimed. Paris takes to his heels, and when he returns to his bookstore hours later, the boyfriend's dead on the floor. As the boyfriend and lady were both white, and Paris is black, this could be a real problem were the cops to find out. Especially with Paris not knowing why the guy is dead.
The murder is connected to Useless' visit, but the whys and hows and what-fors are teased out slowly over the course of the book. There are plenty of digressions, as Paris roams the neighborhood, giving us peeks into the different lives and cultures of the city. Sometimes the enclaves different groups make for themselves, but also where they mix and coexist. Having never been a terribly community-minded person, the grand cultural map of the city, or the city as an organism, isn't hugely interesting to me except for how it impacts the story. I take more from it for the opportunities it gives Mosley to introduce new characters and sketch a quick, but interesting, background for them.
Mosley doesn't write Paris as brave, or at least, Paris doesn't think of himself as brave. Paris contrasts himself with his friend Fearless Jones (who has apparently been the protagonist of a couple other books Mosley wrote, not sure if Paris was in those, too.) From Paris' perspective, Fearless is never flustered, never afraid, can speak calmly with anyone, from a hired killer to a frightened mother to a white pastor. When they're put in a holding cell with a bunch of other guys, Paris is almost grateful to feel safe from the threats of the outside world, while Fearless is, as the names suggests unperturbed by the whole thing.
But even if Paris doesn't particularly care where Useless is, and is only dragged into the search by his aunt, he does keep digging. He keeps asking questions and trying to piece things together, whether his aunt is pressing him or not, whether Fearless is there to back him up or not. He was a likeable enough main character. Clever when he's got time to plan his approach, stubborn enough to keep digging, able to do something dangerous if it's really necessary, even though he's terrified. Although I especially liked the part where he hits his limit with his aunt and gives her a verbal dressing down. Mosley wrote that really well, the way the dam burst and it all just flooded out.
'Somebody overhearing our words would have thought that I was going down the wrong road. But that someone wouldn't have been listening between the lines. In his own estimation Tommy was a superior specimen. He only dealt with white people and was better educated than 99 percent of the Negro race. He would have felt he could dismiss me unless I intimidated him physically or intellectually.
Tommy could have kicked my ass up and down the block, so I used the only muscle I had.'
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