Fear of the Dark
Walter Mosley
Little, Brown, Oct 2006, $25.99
ISBN 0316734586

In 1956 Watts, Ulysses "Useless" S. Grant IV visits his cousin bookseller Paris Minton with his usual request; he needs his help to extract him out of a potentially lethal but definitely dangerous situation that he insists is a misunderstanding that got out of control. With a personal philosophy to avoid trouble, Paris, who refuses to allow Useless into his home or store, knows he needs to say no because assisting his cousin means you bought into strife you do not need. Still he loves his aunt, Useless' mom, so cannot refuse the creep; needing a hero, he turns to his friend Fearless Jones.

Fearless has his own problems at the moment as he fears the dark ever since he was buried in a crawl space with a dead Tiny Bobchek, former boyfriend of his lover Jessa Brown and all he could think of when he was in the crawl space was sharing eternity with this loser. Still he will do anything for his friend Paris even saving the sorry butt of blackmailing trickster Useless. Enlisting the dirty dozen, Fearless and his allies seek the leader of the blackmailing ring leaving behind with each clue a corpse or two.

In his latest appearance (see FEARLESS JONES and FEAR ITSELF) Fearless faces his fears as he assists his friend Paris help his useless cousin out of love for the cretin's mom, Aunt Three Hearts. The violent exciting story line contains an interesting philosophical underpinning that ties ancient Mythos musing to 1950s street corner thinking as the hero, his loyal sidekick, and the fool do what it takes to survive, thrive, and jive in pre Dodger Los Angeles.

Harriet Klausner