Diablerie

by Walter Mosley

  These thoughts were part of a long train of ideas that passed through my mind that late evening. The sun began to rise and Svetlana reached out in her sleep. When she didn't find me there, she sat up.

  "Ben?"

  "Don't ever call me 'Benny' okay, honey?"

  She blinked at me and nodded.

  "What are you doing?" she asked.

  "Thinking that maybe we should stop smoking," I said. "It's really not good for the baby, you know."

  A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

  Walter Mosley is the best-selling author of more than twenty-eight critically acclaimed books; his work has been translated into twenty-one languages. His books include two popular mystery series, the Easy Rawlins series (beginning with Devil in a Blue Dress, which was adapted into a successful 1995 film starring Denzel Washington) and the Fearless Jones series, as well as literary fiction, science fiction, political monographs, and a young adult novel. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has been published in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other magazines. He was an editor and contributor to the book Black Genius and was guest editor for The Best American Short Stories 2003. He is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, a Grammy Award (for his liner notes to Richard Pryor's box set), and the PEN American Center's Lifetime Achievement Award. Walter Mosley was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in New York City.

  BY THE SAME AUTHOR

  Devil in a Blue Dress

  A Red Death

  White Butterfly

  Black Betty

  RL's Dream

  A Little Yellow Dog

  Gone Fishin'

  Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

  Blue Light

  Walkin' the Dog

  Workin' on the Chain Gang

  Fearless Jones

  Futureland

  Bad Boy Brawly Brown

  Six Easy Pieces

  What Next

  Fear Itself

  The Man in My Basement

  Little Scarlet

  47

  Cinnamon Kiss

  Life out of Context

  The Wave

  Fortunate Son

  Fear of the Dark

  Killing Johnny Fry

  This Year You Write Your Novel

  Blonde Faith

  Edited by Walter Mosley

  Black Genius

  The Best American Short Stories 2003

  Maximum Fantastic Four

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2008 by Walter Mosley

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

  Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Mosley, Walter.

  Diablerie : a novel / Walter Mosley.–1st U.S. ed.

  p. cm.

  ISBN: 978-1-59691-397-4 (hardcover)

  1. Memory–Fiction. 2. Self-perception–Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3563.O8845D53 2008

  813’.54—dc22

  2007018826

  First published by Bloomsbury USA in 2008

  This e-book edition published in 2010

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-59691-861-0

  www.bloomsburyusa.com