Black Betty Audiobook By Walter Mosley cover art

Black Betty

An Easy Rawlins Mystery

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Black Betty

By: Walter Mosley
Narrated by: Michael Boatman
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.95

Buy for $21.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Detective Easy Rawlins returns in a mystery set in 1961 Los Angeles as Easy accepts a job searching for a beautiful woman nicknamed Black Betty who works as a housekeeper in Beverly Hills.Hear more of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries.©2002 Walter Mosley (P)2009 Audible, Inc. African American Fiction Hard-Boiled Literary Fiction Literary History & Criticism Mystery Noir Suspense
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Mosley's distinctive black investigator, Easy Rawlins, has moved from Watts to West L.A. with his two adopted children, but trouble still follows him. Hired to locate a sultry female acquaintance from his early days in Houston, Easy searches for her gambler brother and questions her Beverly Hills employer, unwittingly provoking racist police harassment. Meanwhile, friend Raymond ("Mouse") has been released from prison and vows revenge on the snitch who put him there. Mosley, as usual, describes a historically correct ethos in deft, literate prose." ( Library Journal)

Featured Article: Whodunit Whizzes—A Shortlist of the Best Mystery Authors


Who doesn't love a good mystery? Listening to mystery audiobooks is a great way to feel some semblance of order in an often chaotic world. The clues are there for you to solve along, and by the end, it will all come together in an incredibly satisfying manner. There’s a formula to the genre, sure, but the best mysteries still surprise you and often subvert expectations. These mystery writers take the genre to a new level. Here's our pick of their best listens.

What listeners say about Black Betty

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    468
  • 4 Stars
    171
  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    459
  • 4 Stars
    98
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    394
  • 4 Stars
    124
  • 3 Stars
    51
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Easy Evolves!!!!

Black Betty in its own way is one of the best of the "Easy Rawlings" stories that I have read so far! Keeping its mix of late fifties and early sixties insight into the makeup of African American Culture "Black Betty" keeps you on the move and ends up surprising you in the end. I am starting to believe that there is only one sure thing with Easy Rawlins and that is that "Mouse" got to kill somebody!! Michael Boatman is again masterful in his presentation!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Black Betty

Great book. The author takes you on a journey and you connect the dots together.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mosley does it again.

Ever wonder what it was like in post-war Los Angeles in the Black neighborhoods? Walter Mosley brings it to life in his Easy Rawlins series. Historical fiction, social commentary and hard-boiled detective fiction, these books invented a vivid new genre.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good listen!

I liked the few Easy Rawlins' audiobooks I have purchased including Black Betty especially after the defect in the audio was fixed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Read

Boatman was incredible and the story was even better. Walter Mosley never disappoints. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good book

This is my first audiobook by Walter Mosley. I really enjoyed this book. His writing skills are brilliant and engaging. The narrator, Michael Boatman, is superb; he brought every character to life. Bravo! 👏🏿

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

persumej1

I love Walter Mosley, and Black Betty did not let me down. It was a great Easy Rawlins contuation. great book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too Much

There were far too many deaths for my liking- got a bit unrealistic to me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An Easy B For WM’s 4th Rawlins Tale

I read a bunch hate before reading this episode in the life of Ezekiel Rawlins, so I was prepared to be disappointed. It was not so. The one disappointment was Mouse’s cardboard role. WM usually better shows the balance between Raymond Alexander’s sociopathy and his value as Easy’s best and oldest friend. In this one, any positive comments by Easy about his friend seemed wooden; Mouse is just plain gray killer impatient for Easy to point him to his next victim. Perhaps this story holds more sadness than others but it is a well woven and entertaining mystery. The predominant hate in reviews arises from those who don’t want to hear the true story of the black persons’s plight in 1960’s LA (and America). That a “colored” man could be gunned down by a cop for breathing the same air back then is a terrible but true thing. To not want to know about it reminds me of an ostrich.
Editorial: That said, there are many reasons to be proud of the current state of affairs in America, regardless of the fake cause that BLM and its ilk makes their money on today. I’d love to read a WM story with Juice Rawlins as a second gen. P.I. bumping up against the false narrative and failed policies of the liberal “plantation owners” of the current era (a detective Candace Owens,) since All Lives Matter in the 21st C.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

This was a good read. I love this series,very interesting and action filled. I cant wait to read the rest of the series. Love,love love, this series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!