In the following essay, Wesley examines how Mosley both utilizes and expands upon the tradition of the hard-boiled detective genre in Devil in a Blue Dress.

In the following essay, Mason examines Devil in a Blue Dress in relation to the theories of the novel developed by George Lukác and M. M. Bakhtin.

In the following review, Dretzka praises Mosley's debut novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, and anticipates comparisons of the author's work to other black writers of the detective fiction genre.

Diehl is an American columnist and critic. In the following review, he predicts Devil in a Blue Dress will whet readers' appetites for Easy Rawlins stories and lead to "a long, active career" for Mosley's hero.

In the following essay, Lively examines Mosley's themes in Devil in a Blue Dress, A Red Death, and White Butterfly (collected in The Walter Mosley Omnibus) and their relation to his departure from detective fiction in RL's Dream.

In the following review, Eckhoff notes that Devil in a Blue Dress suffers from some of the common weaknesses of the detective genre, faults she finds "troubling, but forgivably so."

Mitgang is an American editor, author, and critic. In the following excerpt, he asserts that Devil in a Blue Dress "marks the debut of a talented author with something vital to say about the distance between the black and white worlds, and with a dramatic way to say it."

In the following review, Washington discusses Mosley's characters in Devil in a Blue Dress and concludes, "Together Mosley's people make an old-fashioned page turner."