All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley




The main sleuths in Walter Mosley novels are two very different men. In my heart, I still love and adore Easy Rawlins. He remains my first love. In this novel, I  met Leonid Trotter McGill.  Leonid is brutal and street smart. Leonid has a short fuse. He doesn't have time to mess around. You either want him to work for you or you don't. It's that easy.  However, McGill is not just a man ready to punch you out. He's also a family man. Weaved beneath each case in this novel, is the importance of family to McGill.

There is Zella, a woman who has just gotten out of prison. She was charged with the shooting of her boyfriend, Harry Tangelo. She found her man in bed with another woman. She has no bitterness when she walks out of the prison. Of prime importance to her is her daughter. Little Zella has been adopted. Zella, the mother, wants to see the parents of her child and talk about getting her back. At the least, she wants to meet the family and to see her child. She hires Leonid to climb over all the adoption red tape.

Then, there is the case with the very rich Mr. Mycroft. His son, he feels, needs to be saved from the bad boys on the street. The son supposedly has been coerced into running with a bad crowd. Of course, Kent Mycroft is Mr. Sweetness. Leonid is hired to find out what's going on. Then, tragedy strikes the McGill home. One bloody night will change Katrina's whole life. Two assassins break in the home. It's the middle of the night. McGill is naked in bed with his wife. He has no idea that in a few hours blood will color the floor of his home. McGill will shoot one man and break the windpipe of the other guy. Katrina can't forget about that night. Her life will never be the same. It is Katrina who will clean up the bloody mess. Only God knows where her mind must have turned as she wiped up the mess. Also, there are three gun shots in her daughter, Shelly, daughter. Unfortunately, this proves what happens in the streets often comes home to roost. Families are endangered  and experience emotional pain. Worse, they have no idea what case their detective father and husband are working on.

On a lighter note, I enjoyed meeting Twill. Twill works with his father on the Mycroft case Twill is so cool. I really like him. He finds Kent Mycroft. He eases information out of him about what he's doing around town. Twill seems like a pro. I almost had the feeling that something might happen in another book to Leonid and Twill would become the new heroic sleuth. Again, there is family. To top it all off, McGill receives a call from his dad. A man he hasn't seen in forty-four years. I know Walter Mosley is making a statement about family. I seriously doubt that my mind has stretched as far as the author might have wanted me to go.

I have to write that the crimes, the money heist, the shooting of Zella's man didn't excite me. I felt Zella should have more to say in the novel. This is the first time I felt a bit disheartened by a Walter Mosley mystery. Maybe Easy Rawlins will always be the right man for the job.http://www.waltermosley.com/





Comments

Vicki said…
I haven't seen this book before that I can recall, but the title caught my attention. It sounds a bit hectic...in a good way!

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