This is another of Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins mystery novels, set in early 1964 just three months after A Little Yellow Dog. Mouse is presumed deceased but still on Easy’s mind as there was no funeral nor even a definitively dead body, Bonnie has moved in with him, Jesus and Feather and, sure enough, the cops and white folks in general have him under pressure.
In Bad Boy Brawly Brown, Rawlins’ long time friend John the bartender and John’s new wife Ava ask him to find Ava’s son Brawly Brown. The boy’s had a difficult 23 years, further handicapped by an inability to control his temper and a body built to deal out hurt, and seems to have fallen in with a very bad crowd. Sure enough we learn right away that Brawly’s a member of the First Men, a group of black radicals that appear to be a precursor to the Black Panther Party.
No sooner does Easy see the boy walk in to a (regular, weeknight) public meeting at the First Men’s storefront headquarters when an LAPD flying squad crash in, leading with their nightsticks. Easy helps Brown’s girlfriend escape and they jump into a car with Brown and another radical.
Meanwhile, there’s trouble at home too. Mainly adjustment pains to living with a woman who truly loves him but his teenage son is having problems at school that need attention and a creative solution.
Mosley shows how the environment is changing, or at least starting to change. The First Men are group that couldn’t have existed 10 years before and while Rawlins has no choice but to deal with the LAPD, he’s able to create some maneuvering space to protect his own community a bit. Not as much as he’d like but more than the cops expected.
recommended
PS: Try saying the title five times fast!
BillSaysThis 