Fear Of the Dark is the third installment of Walter Moseley’s Fearless Jones series, and it’s a good one. The audio book opens up with Paris Minton in his bookstore in Watts in 1956. His first cousin Ulysses "Useless" S. Grant IV shows up because he got mixed up in a scam that has gotten completely out of control. Paris refuses to get mixed up in his trouble, but he soon finds his own when Jessa, a sultry white woman, shows up at his store. It’s not too long before they are on the floor of his store, enjoying the pleasure of each other’s flesh. The conjugal visit doesn’t last long. Jessa’s husband, “Tiny” – who is anything but that -- shows up. It doesn’t take much critical thinking on anyone’s part to figure out that Tiny is less than thrilled to find his wife fornicating on the floor with Minton. And it doesn’t take much critical thinking for Paris to figure out he had better run for his life, and with only the momentary look at his quickly deflating erection, Minton takes off barefoot from his store.

After escaping – and just barely, at that – the wrath of Tiny, Paris Minton makes his way to see Fearless Jones. Here’s where the story gets cooking. With Fearless Jones at his side, Minton makes his way back to his bookstore only to find Tiny dead on the floor. The question of who did it is put aside as Fearless takes care of getting rid of the body for Minton, but he is far from done with trouble. Three Hearts shows up looking for Ulysses, and Minton can’t say no to her mysterious evil eye. Before you know it, Minton and Fearless make their way through the pool halls, dive bars, and small businesses of Watts looking for “Useless” but only coming up with more questions than answers – and more dead bodies, too.

Best known for his “Easy Rawlins” series, Walter Mosley might just have himself another hot property in Fearless Jones. Though old fans might prefer Easy to Fearless, this is nonetheless a very interesting story that oozes with Mosley’s prose and knack for creating memorable characters. The audio production is top of the line, Michael Boatman’s narrative performance nothing short of spectacular. Whether you go “Fearless” or prefer to take it “Easy”, you really can’t go wrong with this effort from Mosley.