<P>"God bless the day that Walter Mosley created Easy Rawlins!" Carolyn See of <I>The Washington Post Book World</I> voices the fervor of fans who love the streetwise, accidental detective and his gritty, sexy, violent world. Now, Mosley "opens a treasured window into the past of a very good friend" <I>(Booklist),</I> stepping back to Houston in 1939, where Easy has yet to get mixed up in the worst kind of business: other people's secrets.<P>In the beginning, there was Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins and Raymond "Mouse" Alexander -- two young men setting out in life, hitting the road in a "borrowed" Ford headed for Pariah, Texas. The volatile Mouse wants to retrieve money from his stepfather so he can marry his EttaMae. But on their steamy bayou excursion, Mouse will choose murder as his way out, while Easy's past liaison with EttaMae floats precariously in his memory. Easy and Mouse are coming of age -- and everything they ever knew about friendship and about themselves is coming apart at the seams....