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Detective writer Walter Mosley loves to dig deep into his characters. He wrote 11 books featuring the Los Angeles-based gumshoe Easy Rawlins (the first of which, Devil in a Blue Dress, was made into a Denzel Washington film) before retiring him in 2007. His latest private eye, former mob crook Leonid McGill, stars in the new novel Known to Evil, the second in what Mosley hopes will be a 10-book series. Mosley spoke with TIME about why he doesn't read mystery novels, the importance of character names, and why he never benefits from inspiration...
...going to name a black character Leonid? How can you do that?" And I'd say, "Why not? Does it make any more sense to call him John? I mean, if black people came from Africa, I should give my characters African names, you know?" But as a writer, as a novelist, names help to identify a character, and place a character in the world...
...Staff writer Sofia E. Groopman can be reached at segroopm@fas.harvard.edu...
...Staff writer Michelle B. Timmerman can be reached at mtimmerman@college.harvard.edu...
...Staff writer Julia L. Ryan can be reached at jryan@college.harvard.edu...