Walter Mosley, the internationally acclaimed, award-winning New York Times-bestselling author, has agreed to a three-book deal with Riverhead Books. The books will be edited by Sean McDonald, Vice President, Executive Editor, Riverhead Books, who acquired world hardcover, paperback and audio rights to these works from literary agent Gloria Loomis of Watkins Loomis. Two of the books will be part of a new mystery series Mr. Mosley is launching that will feature Leonid McGill, an African-American private investigator based in contemporary New York City. This character was first introduced by Mr. Mosley in one of his short stories, "Karma," which was included in the Best American Mystery Stories of 2006 anthology. The first book in Mr. Mosley's new mystery series will be published in hardcover by Riverhead in 2009, with NAL publishing the title in paperback the following year. Mr. Mosley will also be writing a literary novel for Riverhead.One of the most prolific, highly regarded and widely read writers of our time, Walter Mosley is the author of twenty-seven critically acclaimed books and his work has been translated into twenty-three languages. His popular mysteries featuring Easy Rawlins began with Devil in a Blue Dress in 1990. Others in the series include Black Betty, A Little Yellow Dog and the current New York Times bestseller, Blonde Faith.
Mr. Mosley has won numerous awards, including the Anisfield Wolf Award, an honor given to works that increase the appreciation and understanding of race in America. He has also been honored with the Sundance Institute's Risktaker Award and PEN American Center's Lifetime Achievement Award, and has won a Grammy Award (for the liner notes of a career-spanning Richard Pryor CD box set) and an O'Henry Award, among other honors.
Two motion pictures have been made from his work, including the 1995 TriStar release of Devil in a Blue Dress, produced by Jonathan Demme, directed by Carl Franklin, and starring Denzel Washington and Jennifer Beals.
