Walter Mosley’s freedom of speech, Carl Hiaasen’s South Florida, and a podcast recommendation: newsletter, February 21, 2020

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Walter Mosley on the ability to speak freely

Sometime in the middle of 2019, Walter Mosley joined the writers room of the third season of Star Trek: Discovery.

It was quite a coup for the producers of the show. Mosley is a well known, much-published author who has won numerous awards, particularly in the mystery genre. He is a giant among mystery writers and certainly one of the genre’s best known African-American authors.

One day, Mosley was telling a colleague a story and used the word “nigger.”

Soon afterwards, he received a call from the human relations department saying that someone had complained that he had said that particular word out loud. Normally, the person explained, he would be fired immediately, but in this case he was getting off with a warning.

There I was being chastised for criticizing the word that oppressed me and mine for centuries. As far as I know, the word is in the dictionary. As far as I know, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence assure me of both the freedom of speech and the pursuit of happiness.

How can I exercise these freedoms when my place of employment tells me that my job is on the line if I say a word that makes somebody, an unknown person, uncomfortable?

There’s all kinds of language that makes me uncomfortable. Half the utterances of my president, for instance. Some people’s sexual habits and desires. But I have no right whatsoever to tell anyone what they should and should not cherish or express. Source: Opinion | Why I Quit the Writers’ Room – The New York Times

Mosley was so offended that anyone should attempt to stifle his speech that he quit later that day. Then he wrote an op-ed piece about the incident for the New York Times.

I’m a fortunate guy. Not everyone can quit their job. But beyond that, we cannot be expected to thrive in a culture where our every word is monitored. 

Mosley has published more than 40 books since he began writing at the age of 34. He has created three detective/mystery series: Easy Rawlins, Fearless Jones, and Leonid McGill. His work runs in the same channels as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. His novel Down the River Unto the Sea was nominated for best novel for 2019 by the Mystery Writers of America.

Since achieving success as an author, Mosley has been a supporter of young writers, particularly those of color. See Crime Writers of Color.

Podcast recommendation: HLN’s Down the Hill

A new show that is sweeping its way through the podcast-true-crime cybersphere is Down the Hill, the story of the murders of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017. What makes this podcast compelling is that there are so many clues to the murders — including some video, pictures, and a voice recording from one of the phones of one of the girls. Still, the police have not been able to identify the killer.

Here’s the official description of the podcast:

Abby and Libby – 2 young girls murdered. Investigators are searching for the killer using their biggest clue: a recording of his voice from one of the victims’ phones ordering the girls Down the Hill. Almost three years later, it’s a mystery that still haunts the small town of Delphi, Indiana while police say the killer may walk among them.

HLN is Headline News, a spinoff of CNN in Atlanta. The folks who put this podcast together are pros at both reporting and audio production. If you are a true crime podcast listener, this one is well worth the time.

A reporter and a story that never went away

Judi Singer got into Katherine Ellison’s head and stayed there for close to 40 years.

Singer was a stay-at-home mom in California in 1981 when her husband was convicted for arranging the contract killing of her first husband.

Ellison was a reporter for the San Jose Mercury and covered the trial. She spoke to Singer several times during the trial, but toward the end of it, the relationship became very complex in a surprising number of ways.

I was drawn to Judi immediately. With her perfect blonde bob, single strand of pearls, and ever-present Louis Vuitton tote, she seemed so much more familiar than the seedy stream of folk normally frequenting criminal courtrooms. She could have been one of my cousins, or a friend from our synagogue. Specifically, she had a lot in common with my mother, who like Judi was a native Midwesterner, a talented cook, and a fashionable dresser who proudly made her children her life’s work. Later, I saw the similarities didn’t end there. Both women were hiding secrets behind their perfect housewife veneer.

The relationship that developed is the subject of Ellison’s latest book, Mothers and Murderers: A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession and Second Changes. Ellison gives a fascinating account of that relationship and of how the book describing it was finally developed and written: The True Crime Story That Changed My Life | CrimeReads

The article is forthright about how the Singer case haunted the reporter for entire — and award-winning — reporting career and about how she was finally able to let go of it.

Finally . . .