Like the store owners I interviewed, protagonist Paris Minton was a voracious reader who developed his love for books in a segregated four-room schoolhouse in rural Louisiana. By the time he was fifteen, he had read every book in the neighborhood. His appetite for books led him to his local public library. There, he was temporarily disheartened by a white librarian who tantalized him with a tour of the library before telling him “...no matter how much you know how to read, these books are not meant for you. These books are meant by white people for white people . . . There will be no library card for you, so you can stop sitting out in front. You have seen as much of this building as you ever will.”

Two years later Paris was lured to California - not by a job, the vote or fear of lynching -but by the freedom to read. He had been told that in that state "black folks could go to any library they wanted." When Fearless Jones opens in the fall of 1954, Paris is the proprietor of a used bookstore in Los Angeles. He is doing what he loves. His inventory of nearly 3,000 is made up of castaways from libraries, estate sales and other places. “A used book is as good as a new one as far as the reading goes,” says Paris who lives in a small space in the back of the store.

All is well until Love walks in the door. Literally. Elana Love is a classic film noir femme fatale who seduces Paris. Within the first 24 hours of their meeting, Paris is beaten up by her ex-con boyfriend. The morning after he has lost his illusions about Elana - along with his wallet, gun, cash and car, Paris returns home to find that his bookstore has been burned to the ground. Everything that has happened to him prior to the loss of his store pales in comparison. “None of that mattered because that bookstore was what made me somebody rather than just anybody. Burning down my store was the same as shooting me, and somebody would have to make restitution for that crime,” he says.

Using the remainder of his savings, the bookish Paris bails his friend and enforcer Fearless Jones out of jail to exact justice on his behalf. Their quest leads them through the streets of Los Angeles to a storefront church and to an elderly Jewish couple in search of a bearer bond. In classic Mosley style, there are dead bodies strewn along the way before the mystery is solved.

Beyond the mystery, Mosley's story is an interesting tale of life in post-World War II America, of black-Jewish relations and of racism in America. With a broad edge, the author draws parallels between racial issues that existed in the mid-1950s and those of the early 2000s.

This is not the first appearance of Fearless and Paris. The first Fearless Jones mystery was a short story released in Paula Woods' collection, Spooks, Spies and Private Eyes: Black Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction of the 20th Century. In 1995, that story, "Fearless" was produced by HBO as a made-for-TV movie with Giancarlo Esposito as Paris and Bill Nunn as Fearless.

The locale and Paris-Fearless pairing will encourage comparisons between this mystery and the popular Easy Rawlings series. Paris and Fearless are not as lethal as the combination of Easy and his childhood friend, Raymond "Mouse" Alexander. The relationship between Paris and Fearless is more of an intellectual point and counterpoint. But Fearless Jones should ultimately be judged on its own merits. It's worth a look.

--Gwendolyn Osborne