Walter Mosley: White Butterfly (UK 2009)

From the Publisher:
It's 1956 and no one official in Los Angeles pays much attention when three black bar girls are murdered. But when a white stripper is similarly murdered and she turns out to be the daughter of a powerful LA prosecutor, all hell breaks loose. The LAPD calls on Easy Rawlins for help: he can go places and do things the police cannot. Reluctantly, Easy accepts their plea and begins a deadly quest that takes him through the seedy jazz joints of Bone Street and the dingy rooms of Hollywood Row. It is a brutal, dangerous odyssey that jeopardizes his marriage and his life - and leads to a shocking conclusion.

Walter Mosley: White Butterfly. Serpent's Tail, ISBN: 9781852429829 (March, 2009), 272 p., £7.99.

Walter Mosley: White Butterfly (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
Andrew Vachss called Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley's debut mystery featuring Easy Rawlins, a tough black private detective in L.A.'s Watts section, "the most self-assured, uniquely-voiced first novel I've ever read." The Wall Street Journal said of its sequel, A Red Death: "Remarkable... proves Mr. Mosley's debut was no fluke." Readers and critics agree that Walter Mosley is writing novels fit to stand alongside the giants of the L.A. hardboiled tradition.

In Mosley's eagerly awaited new mystery, White Butterfly, the time is 1956 and, things being what they are, no one in official Los Angeles is much bothered as a serial killer proceeds to murder three black bar girls, leaving a distinctive mark each time. But when a white stripper, Cyndi Starr, aka "The White Butterfly" on stage, is similarly murdered - and she turns out to be a UCLA coed and the daughter of a politically powerful prosecutor - all hell breaks loose. The heat is finally on to find the killer.

Walter Mosley: White Butterfly. Washington Square Press, ISBN 0743451775 (October, 2002), 309 p., $14.00.