FEAR OF THE DARK by Walter Mosley

This third novel in the Fearless Jones series features a new character—Ulysses S. Grant IV.  “Useless,” as he is commonly known and with good reason, is the cousin of our first-person narrator and used book store owner, Paris Minton.  Where Useless goes, trouble follows, and Paris won’t even let him in the door when he comes knocking.  Still, Paris is soon up to his ears in Useless’s dangerous doings and comes across multiple dead bodies in the process.  Paris’s good friend Fearless once again provides muscle and moral compass, while the book is otherwise littered with a vast cast of thieves, murderers, con men (and women), blackmailers, embezzlers, and kidnappers.  The plot is complicated but entertaining, and Mosley has a way with words.  He also reminds us that in the 1950s cops were white and Blacks were suspicious characters, even if they were just sitting on a park bench reading a book.