Easy Rawlins is on the verge of starting new life and a new detective agency along with his two friends. The book starts right where the previous part ended i.e at “Rose Gold” case. He got ample money from the case and thus now wants to propose to the girl whom he loves from the core of his heart. His detective agency is earning well and things seem to be working in his favor for the first time in his life as the odds are not working against him. A case strikes him all of a sudden as his friend Mouse introduces him to Rufus who is an old man and the only one he relies on in this old age is his nephew.
Sadly his nephew has been arrested and taken to prison with a charge of a murder case. The evidence is clear because the boy was found with the dead body in his apartment and the cause of murder is racism.
Rufus known as Charcoal Joe is ready to pay anything or we can say everything to save the only relation he possesses in this old age. The novel shares some history of Los Angles as well that was once famous for racism.
We see such historical touches in other books of Walter Mosley as well books like Devil in a Blue Dress and Down the River unto the Sea are also with a historic touch of their own as well. The sequence of the events appear to be random at the beginning but sums up well towards the middle. Michael Boatman narrates in the appealing voice of his and surely gives the listener a captivating feeling.
