Black Betty
An Easy Rawlins Mystery
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Narrated by:
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Michael Boatman
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By:
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Walter Mosley
About this listen
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What's The Beef?
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By: Blair Underwood, and others
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Cop Town
- By: Karin Slaughter
- Narrated by: Kathleen Early
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Atlanta, 1974: It's Kate Murphy's first day on the job, and the Atlanta Police Department is seething after the murder of an officer. Before the day has barely begun, she already suspects she's not cut out to be a cop. Her male uniform is too big, she can't handle a gun, and she's rapidly learning that the APD is hardly a place that welcomes women. Worse still, in the ensuing manhunt she'll be partnered with Maggie Lawson, a cop with her own ax to grind.
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Outstanding, Gutsy Crime Novel Read by a Master
- By Chip Atkinson on 07-08-14
By: Karin Slaughter
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Every Crooked Nanny
- A Callahan Garrity Mystery, Book 1
- By: Mary Kay Andrews
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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After 10 years of cleaning up the dirt on Atlanta's streets, Callahan Garrity is trading in her badge for a broom and a staff of house cleaners. But, though the uniform is a little different, Callahan soon finds herself right back in the middle of a mystery when a client's pretty, pious 19-year-old nanny is gone...along with the jewelry, silver, and a few rather sensitive real estate documents. Before she knows it, the meticulous Callahan is up to her elbows in a case involving illicit love triangles, crooked business deals, long-distance scams, and a dead body.
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For light entertainment - Also reviews explained
- By Chicago Laura on 07-05-13
By: Mary Kay Andrews
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Vengeance
- By: Stuart M. Kaminsky
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Three years ago Lew Fonseca quit his job as a process server with the State Attorney's Office in Cook County, Illinois, and drove his rattling Toyota south to escape the memories of his beloved late wife. Headed for Key West, the Toyota broke down in a Dairy Queen parking lot in Sarasota, Florida. Buoyed by the friendship of a few trustworthy souls, Lew settled there, making ends meet by doing some investigative work for local attorneys.
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Unexpectional!
- By Ted on 09-17-17
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Nine Lives
- Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans
- By: Dan Baum
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Nines Lives is a multivoiced biography of a dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city, told through the lives of nine unforgettable characters and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, which transformed New Orleans in the 1960s, and Hurricane Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. Dan Baum brings this kaleidoscopic portrait to life, showing us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved.
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Do not miss if you're interested in New Orleans
- By Kelly on 03-22-18
By: Dan Baum
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The Sins of the Fathers
- By: Lawrence Block
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The hooker was young, pretty...and dead, butchered in a Greenwich Village apartment. The prime suspect, a minister's son, was also dead, the victim of a jailhouse suicide. The case is closed, as far as the NYPD is concerned. Now the murdered prostitute's father wants it opened again--that's where Matthew Scudder comes in.
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Good introduction to a popular series
- By Sharron on 12-26-11
By: Lawrence Block
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Blindsighted
- By: Karin Slaughter
- Narrated by: Kathleen Early
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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A small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it's only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the killer's twisted work becomes clear. Sara's ex-husband, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver, leads the investigation - a trail of terror that grows increasingly macabre when another local woman is found crucified a few days later.
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Start here first...
- By Becka1310 on 02-01-18
By: Karin Slaughter
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Signals: New and Selected Stories
- By: Tim Gautreaux
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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After the stunning historical novels The Clearing and The Missing, Tim Gautreaux now ranges freely through contemporary life with 12 new stories and eight from previous collections. Most are set in his beloved Louisiana, many hard by or on the Mississippi River, others in North Carolina, and even in midwinter Minnesota. But generally it's heat, humidity, and bugs that beset his people as they wrestle with affairs of the heart, matters of faith, and the pros and cons of tight-knit communities.
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Perfection! Amazing writer/amazing reader
- By Monique on 01-08-19
By: Tim Gautreaux
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The Drop
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Jim Frangione
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Three days after Christmas, a lonely bartender looking for a reason to live rescues an abused puppy from a trash can and meets a damaged woman looking for something to believe in. As their relationship grows, they cross paths with the Chechen mafia; a man grown dangerous with age and thwarted hopes; two hapless stick-up artists; a very curious cop; and the original owner of the puppy, who wants his dog bac.k…
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THAT IS LIFE,
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 12-06-14
By: Dennis Lehane
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From Here to Eternity
- By: James Jones
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 36 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him. First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife. Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond: the Army is their heart and blood...and, possibly, their death.
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Genius on Every Level
- By aaron on 06-13-13
By: James Jones
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A Stone for Danny Fisher
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Born into a family of modest means and respectability, Danny Fisher was gradually driven downward into the world of crime, racketeering and poverty. His bitterness, his homesickness over the loss of the house in Brooklyn that was given to him for his eighth birthday, and his feud with his harsh father, pulled him one way; his natural decency and his love for a sweet Italian girl, Nellie Petito, pulled him another.
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My teenage read.
- By A. Mitchell on 11-11-11
By: Harold Robbins
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His name is etched on the door of his Manhattan office: LEONID McGILL , PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR. It's a name that takes a little explaining, but he's used to it. Ex-boxer, hard drinker, in a business that trades mostly in cash and favors: McGill's an old-school P.I. working a city that's gotten fancy all around him. Fancy or not, he has always managed to get by - keep a roof over the head of his wife and kids, and still manage a little fun on the side - mostly because he's never been above taking a shady job for a quick buck.
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Joe King Oliver was one of the NYPD's finest investigators until he was framed for sexual assault by unknown enemies within the force. A decade has passed since his release from Rikers, and he now runs a private detective agency with the help of his teenage daughter. Physically and emotionally broken by the brutality he suffered while behind bars, King leads a solitary life, his work and his daughter the only lights. When he receives a letter from his accuser confessing that she was paid to frame him years ago, King decides to find out who wanted him gone and why.
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Paris Minton is a man who would just as soon walk away from trouble as stand up to it. But in 1950s Los Angeles, sometimes trouble just comes and gets you. When one of L.A.'s wealthiest women hires Paris and his friend Fearless Jones to find a missing nephew, Paris steps into the a complex and terrifying corner of the black bourgeoisie, and wonders whom he should fear more - the people he's looking for or the people he's working for.
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What listeners say about Black Betty
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DARRYL JOHNSON
- 05-16-20
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!
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- Christina Garcia
- 01-10-22
Black Betty
Great book. The author takes you on a journey and you connect the dots together.
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- Charles Mubarak
- 07-24-22
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.
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- Theresa
- 08-22-12
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.
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- Marcus P.
- 06-28-20
Excellent Read
Boatman was incredible and the story was even better. Walter Mosley never disappoints. Highly recommended.
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- Debra stone
- 07-04-24
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! 👏🏿
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- Dupree1956
- 05-14-11
persumej1
I love Walter Mosley, and Black Betty did not let me down. It was a great Easy Rawlins contuation. great book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Cass P
- 11-16-18
Too Much
There were far too many deaths for my liking- got a bit unrealistic to me
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- soliDEOgloria
- 05-02-19
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.
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- funblackeagle2
- 08-18-21
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.
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