Gone Fishin' is a philosophical prequel to the Easy Rawlins series of novels, each of which engages the hero in unofficial work as a sleuth during a successive period in actual historical time. The primary setting in the mystery series is the SouthCentral Los Angeles to which Easy flees.

A prominent series theme is survival in the midst of the threatening and morally complex situations that result from urban blight, corruption, and a white racist justice system. Mouse recurs, and less frequently other characters like EttaMae Harris. Easy sometimes recalls the incidents in Gone Fishin'.

Devil in a Blue Dress (1990; see separate entry) introduces Easy as a 1948 aircraft worker fired from his job by a racist boss.

Easy has honored his decision to read by finishing high school. To keep his tiny house in Watts, he accepts money from a white gangster to find a blond...