Rose Gold

November 24, 2014
Set in 1967 Los Angeles, with the Vietnam War dominating the news, the latest book featuring Mosley’s beloved Easy Rawlins finds the private eye interrupted from settling in to his upscale new home by an increasing number of intriguing missing-person investigations. Chief among them is the search for a boxer-turned-political-protestor, last seen in the company of the missing and presumed-kidnapped daughter of munitions baron Foster Goldsmith. Reader Jackson’s cool, unruffled rendition matches the tone of Rawlins’s first-person narration, including the character’s cynical knowledge of the way things work in the racially divided city. For Easy’s LAPD pal Melvin Suggs, whose career has been blighted by his love for a lawbreaker, Jackson replaces the usual police truculence with a boozy haplessness. A long list of vivid characters spring from Mosley’s mind in each novel. Here it includes pugilists, a group of black militants known as Scorched Earth, and the Patty Hearst–like Rosemary Goldsmith. Jackson brings them all to life with admirable versatility. A Doubleday hardcover.

Narrator JD Jackson portrays the level-headed private detective Easy Rawlins, who has set out to solve a number of mysteries that revolve around the missing Rosemary Goldsmith, daughter of a rich weapons producer. Jackson's narration is steady and maintains depth when he speaks as other characters. While the story takes place in the late 1960s, from time to time, Jackson's tone has a contemporary sound that adds to the detective's relatability. Easy's a caring guy, but he's also a survivor. Jackson brings out both of these qualities in his narration. T.E.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine