Recently laid off, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is nursing a drink and sweating his upcoming mortgage payment when a stranger makes him an offer: Help him locate a missing white woman who likes to spend time in black speakeasies. Easy smells a rat, but he has bills to pay, so he agrees to ask around his neighborhood…and is soon entangled with violent gangsters, dirty cops, crooked politicians, and one beautiful, dangerous woman. Set in 1940s Los Angeles, this gritty, hard-boiled noir is a can't-miss modern literary classic. (KG)

This title is included in our 2021 Book a Month: Mysteries package.