A "Devil in a Blue Dress"? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Easy mistrusts his new boss and soon wants back-up; he's scared.

Not only is Mouse a good man to perhaps help Easy hold off the person who hires and then scares Rawlins, Mouse is also known to carry a long gun and have a short temper. Mouse smiles often and has one deadly rule for Easy Rawlins: "Don't you ever grab me when I got a gun in my hand!"

Answer: He has just been fired from a job he counted on to pay the mortgage on his first home.

There is one "black" item on Mr. Albright that Easy sees, because it is only partly hidden--a gun. But Easy is late with his mortgage, he has lost his luck, and he is a bit full of whiskey-bravery, so he thinks he can fool Albright into paying him to look for Daphne. He already plans to just pretend to, to pay his mortgage.
Easy asks Joppy later what Albright does for a living, but all Joppy does is smile and say, "Whatever the market can bear."

Answer: Dupree passes out, Easy and the lady flirt and drink, and the next day Easy is in trouble.

Coretta James is called "...a vain man's dream" to describe the way she makes many men feel. Easy Rawlins is one of them. But he leaves Coretta unhappy, because of Dupree, his better friend from his former job, and the whiskey is all gone. The next day, Dupree has hit the blues.
This is the point at which Easy knows he may need Mouse's help. The police think Easy knows more about Dupree and Coretta than a brutal beating tells them.

Answer: Because a man said so and Carter is in love with Daphne; Carter wants her back.

Daphne Monet isn't really French. Because Easy fought in WW II, he knows Daphne is not French when he meets her, after she calls him to do her a favor. Easy thinks Daphne is pretty when she flirts a little with him, but Easy also thinks her very beautiful blond hair and her face, plus the too-nice blue dresses she always wears makes her out of his reach.
After Mouse arrives, Mouse tells Easy to fight his growing list of enemies. Mouse reminds Easy of bravery and of the money owed on his home and, of course, of the fact that more money is "always possible to find" somehow.
Mouse thinks he can take care of any woman himself, by first flashing "the gold on his teeth", which may be the true for some of the women. But it is his violent ways that are more useful now, to be used against anyone who may threaten his old friend Easy.

Answer: "...I got this here long-barreled forty-one-caliber pistol...at...yo' head..."

Easy Rawlins and Mouse, whose real name Raymond Alexander ("Easy is short for Ezekial") used to roam Texas dirt roads together; poor, very young and hungry. The story of those early days is in a book by Walter Mosley titled "Gone Fishin'" -the only book I know about Rawlins and Mouse with no color named in its title.

Answer: Daphne leaves a body and takes a suitcase.

In 1948, even after WW II, some people of different races still found it hard to mix. After the war, many went back their old ways and did not trust each other. Yet Daphne has no fears about being alone in Watts, nor in wealthy places, nor about wearing her fancy blue dresses whenever she goes out anywhere.
P.S. Did you know this is a good movie starring young Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle?

Answer: No; Carter is in love with Daphne and wants Easy to tell her to return to him.

Some very wealthy people think money solves even the worst problems. But Mr. Carter has his own plans. It involves Easy because Carter knows Easy can get a message to Daphne. He has no idea that Daphne and Easy are a bit closer than he thinks they are. Easy isn't sure why Carter is so interested in Daphne.

Answer: Mr. Albright and his helpers.

A note about Teran. When Easy first must walk many blocks late at night to return from a police beating, a big smooth car stops by him. The driver tells Easy that a man named Teran, in the back of the car, wants to speak to Easy. Readers find out Teran is running for political office against Carter.
But it is a small boy with Teran who turns Easy's feelings against Teran. The boy is just a toddler and he is up far too late, and Teran shows his evil side. You might want to read more about this boy in this and other Mosley books.

Answer: Ties him up, gets tired of his moans, and shoots him dead.

Yes, the reputation Mouse has is a true one. He acts first and thinks later. Mouse "seems to not think much" except about women, and about how to get rich without working.
Mouse has no trouble having a good time as well. In fact, he thinks shooting or hurting people (those who seem to him like they need it) isn't that different than having a good time.
Don Cheadle first caught my attention in his role as Mouse for the movie of the same name as this book. He is a great actor.

Answer: Daphne and a black man are brother and sister--they are mixed-race; she tells Carter, then he says he won't marry her.

Suggest you don't forget the movie, though the book is better as is often the case. Samuel L. Jackson stars in another movie adapted from a Walter Mosley book, this one about an ex-con named Socrates: "another outnumbered, always outgunned".