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Weidenfeld & Nicolson, December 2005
Reviewed by Sally Roddom
CINNAMON KISS is set in San Francisco during 1967, the summer of love when
the hippie movement was at its height. Easy Rawlins is desperate for money
and contemplating carrying out an armed robbery. He has been driven to
this point because his adopted daughter, Feather, needs an expensive
medical treatment to save her life - more than Easy can earn or borrow in
time. While he contemplates his options, he accepts work from an anonymous
boss resulting in Easy travelling from L.A. to San Francisco in search of
missing bonds and papers. They are possibly in the hands of Philomena
Cargill, aka Cinnamon. Easy soon realizes there is much more going on than
he is being told about this job, but his financial need overcomes all
concerns. He plunges into the unfamiliar hippie territory, learning to
smoke pot, enjoy free love, and solve this case, which is the most macabre
murder yet in the series.
This is the tenth Easy Rawlings book, and I strongly suspect that the
ending has set up the very likely chance for another sequel . Walter
Mosley's stories are written to a familiar pattern, but his characters are
strong and believable. In all his novels Mosley arranges plots that not
only ask "whodunit?" but also challenge conservative assumptions of what
is considered right and wrong, good and evil. I did not find this as
powerful as some of his previous titles. However, the questions raised in
this novel are very thought provoking. Is it right to charge so much for
life-saving medical care? Is saving the life of his daughter Feather
justification for an armed robbery or for taking a job that could possibly
cover up evidence of a crime? Can sexual infidelity be justified by an
ethical purpose and should it be forgiven for that reason? All of Mosley's
books trigger soul searching for questions that can be debated for years,
and no satisfactory answer, or solution, arrived at. As his previous
books, CINNAMON KISS can be read as a standalone. It is not necessary to
read the stories in sequence, although I would recommend you try and read
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS if you can, as this is the first and gives the
initial background information to the complex character called Easy
Rawlings.
December 2005
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