Generally discounted is any real tie between Mosley's Easy Rawlins novels and the formal mystery tradition which includes Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes or Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason, among other crime-solving heroes. While it is true that the Perry Mason novels reflect Gardner's interest in justice for the "underdog," a theme found in Mosley's fiction, the resemblances end there. Attorney Mason functions within the social mainstream. Critics generally agree that Mosley's detective fiction relates to the hard-boiled tradition of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Chester Himes, although here too there are differences.

Chandler's "dark streets" are not located in the heart of African American neighborhoods, like Mosley's. Although Himes's stories especially reflect the social concerns of African Americans, his two plainclothes police officers in Harlem play a law-enforcement role alien to Easy Rawlins.