A fascinating and vividly rendered (The Wall Street Journal) mystery featuring one of crime fictions greatest protagonistsprivate investigator Easy Rawlinsas he agrees to a dangerous surveillance job.

Its 1953 in Red-baiting, blacklisting Los Angelesa moral tar pit ready to swallow Easy Rawlins. Easy is out of the hurting business and into the housing (and favor) business when a racist IRS agent nails him for tax evasion. Special Agent Darryl T. Craxton, FBI, offers to bail him out if he agrees to infiltrate the First American Baptist Church and spy on alleged communist organizer Chaim Wenzler. Thats when the murders begin….