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In this second in the Fearless Jones series, it is 1955, and that slightly odd couple, Fearless Jones and Paris Minton, are again involved in a complicated plot that takes them on a trip through the slums and the haunts of the black bourgeoisie in Los Angeles. Paris, that rather timid, decidedly literate used book seller, is peacefully asleep above his shop when he is rudely awakened by a fierce knocking at his door. It is, of course, Fearless Jones with a new proposition. A woman has hired him to search for the putative father of her son, Son, and he'd like Paris to help. The absentee is Kit Mitchell, the Watermelon Man, so called because he makes a living selling watermelons quietly grown in Oxnard as the more desirable kind from Texas. From this point on, events get rapidly far too dangerous for the timid Paris, though Fearless is unfazed. Not the least of their problems is that it is never quite clear who or what they are looking for. Is it the elusive Kit, an emerald necklace of incalculable worth, or a family diary? Whatever the prize, people are killing and dying to possess it and by the time the plot has been unravelled, Paris has been forced to come to a new understanding of what he is himself capable of. Mosely remains his cool and stylish self in this novel, and his characters¹ journey across the class lines of black Los Angeles society is revealing. There is, however, rather a lot of plot here and perhaps a few too many characters to be absolutely satisfying. Still, readers who are still mourning the loss of Easy and Mouse will find a lot of comfort in Paris and Fearless.
Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, June 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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