Thomas Black Series by Earl Emerson

This is the first Thomas Black mystery. Black is a private eye working in Seattle. The Rainy City was nominated for a Shamus award from the Private Eye writers of America.

When Fred Pugsley receives a dead rattlesnake in the mail, ex-Seattle cop Thomas Black and his friend, lawyer Kathy Birchfield, are called in to investigate. But when they get there, Fred is dead, and his stunned wife sits huddled in the kitchen, clutching a tool used on racing bicycles -- the murder weapon. But the wife says she's innocent, and suddenly there are plenty of other suspects. Just as Seattle stages its own Mardi Gras, Black is getting ready for a wild blow-out of his own . . .

Thomas Black is back in a bizarre new case that begins as a practical joke. Four businessmen hire him to track down the women of their dreams. Each man has harbored an unrequited crush for year, and Black must find the women and arrange dates. But when murder enters the picture, it is no joke, and Black finds himself in the midst of a plot that is deadly serious.

The menacing phone calls from a maniacally laughing stranger haunt Seattle private eye Thomas Black as he lies partially paralyzed in the hospital - plagued with memory loss and a monstrous sense of doom. Black must piece together the shards of an investigation that nearly killed him. And through the haze of nightmarish recollection, he starts to remember... moreThe menacing phone calls from a maniacally laughing stranger haunt Seattle private eye Thomas Black as he lies partially paralyzed in the hospital - plagued with memory loss and a monstrous sense of doom. Black must piece together the shards of an investigation that nearly killed him. And through the haze of nightmarish recollection, he starts to remember.... A curious couple offers Black a strange proposal: play guardian angel to an unlikely stalking victim - Billy Battle, a brooding ex-con with a psychotic history of unproven murder and mayhem. Hot on Billy's crooked trail is the straight-arrow ex-neighbor who helped send him up the river, and who just may want Billy dead for his own peace of mind. Then the mysterious, diabolical laugher on the phone extends his campaign of terror to Thomas Black, convincing the wily P.I. that he's getting close to something. But exactly what, he doesn't know. As Black wades deeper into a secret world of sadistic murder and pure evil, he finds himself up against an adversary far deadlier than he had ever imagined. And Black can't help but wonder if the last, wicked laugh will be on him.... less

Everyone who knew Balinda could have told Seattle private eye Thomas Black that the ex-choir girl thumbed a ride with the devil a long time ago. Still, no one expected the pretty young woman to vanish off the face of the earth--leaving in her wake an empty purse, a wrecked car, and a dead Eagle Scout in the backseat. What's more, Balinda never even gave notice at her last job--at a backwater diner where a freezer might keep more than crawdads on ice... moreEveryone who knew Balinda could have told Seattle private eye Thomas Black that the ex-choir girl thumbed a ride with the devil a long time ago. Still, no one expected the pretty young woman to vanish off the face of the earth--leaving in her wake an empty purse, a wrecked car, and a dead Eagle Scout in the backseat. What's more, Balinda never even gave notice at her last job--at a backwater diner where a freezer might keep more than crawdads on ice.When Balinda's driver is identified, Thomas Black suspects big trouble. For it turns out that the victim was a fifth-grade Tacoma schoolteacher with an impeccable reputation. But tracking the past of that white-bread teacher is increasingly hazardous. Especially when it leads Thomas back to that modest little eat-in/take-out . . . called Catfish Café. less

A man and a woman, their coastal getaway interrupted, say goodbye on an isolated landing strip in Washington State. She then calls from the air. And he watches from the base of a lighthouse as the plane, with eleven people on board, plummets into the steely gray sea. The man remembering this tragic event is in a hospital room, the victim of a bombing weeks after the crash... moreA man and a woman, their coastal getaway interrupted, say goodbye on an isolated landing strip in Washington State. She then calls from the air. And he watches from the base of a lighthouse as the plane, with eleven people on board, plummets into the steely gray sea. The man remembering this tragic event is in a hospital room, the victim of a bombing weeks after the crash. In this extraordinary thriller by award-winning author Earl Emerson, Seattle private eye Thomas Black returns after more than a decade–and he must put together the shattered fragments of his life. His life and his country depend on it.CAPE DISAPPOINTMENTThe bomb that nearly killed Thomas Black went off in a school gymnasium after a Senate candidate had spoken. Amid the carnage, Black nearly bled to death. But he survives–and enters a tunnel of dreams and hallucinations, oblivion and unconnected memories. People come and go from his hospital room. A beautiful woman kisses him. A madman’s rant echoes in his mind. Then, when Black–widower, hero, and private investigator–is released from the hospital, he faces the twin tragedies that have devastated his life, and the fact that his lovely wife Kathy is really gone for good.Or is she? Thomas believes he sees Kathy–as a passenger in a passing truck. Her cell phone, which should be on the bottom of the sea, calls his in the middle of the night. And the explanations investigators give for the plane crash just don’t make sense.Now, step by step, Black is beginning to understand what a paranoid, alcoholic former CIA hit man has been trying to tell him about the plane crash, about the death of a reporter’s husband, about suspicious things that nobody ever gets around to questioning. Suddenly, Black is on the run, chased by mysterious people, caught in a web of personal and political lies and something even worse: a plot that is killing everyone it touches. Brilliantly told and emotionally galvanizing, Cape Disappointment is a political thriller and a gut-wrenching tale of conspiracies–the kind that are too crazy to believe and too deadly to ignore. less

In the thirteenth installment of this award-winning private eye series, Seattle sleuth Thomas Black agrees to do a favor for a longtime friend of Kathy's, Angela Bassman, who quickly gets him entangled in a messy relationship between philandering billionaire, Clark Lloyd Self and his famous ex-model wife, Monica Pennington. Complications ensue when Self's gargantuan Rhodes-scholar bodyguard and his sniggering buddy begin harassing Black and Angela... moreIn the thirteenth installment of this award-winning private eye series, Seattle sleuth Thomas Black agrees to do a favor for a longtime friend of Kathy's, Angela Bassman, who quickly gets him entangled in a messy relationship between philandering billionaire, Clark Lloyd Self and his famous ex-model wife, Monica Pennington. Complications ensue when Self's gargantuan Rhodes-scholar bodyguard and his sniggering buddy begin harassing Black and Angela. When Angela ends up dead, her sister hires Black to investigate her last weeks, sending Black on a Byzantine odyssey in which he nearly loses his life and ends up discovering more about each sister's mysterious past than either of them ever wanted him to know. less

Tasked with the embarrassing job of finding a lost dog at the behest of an elderly family friend, PI Thomas Black’s quest for the dog quickly shifts into something dark and deadly when he learns the dog fled the scene of a double-murder/suicide. There’s something disquieting about the crime, as well as the hasty police dismissal of it. What’s worse, several weeks earlier, Black met two of the deceased, who told him they thought they were being followed... moreTasked with the embarrassing job of finding a lost dog at the behest of an elderly family friend, PI Thomas Black’s quest for the dog quickly shifts into something dark and deadly when he learns the dog fled the scene of a double-murder/suicide. There’s something disquieting about the crime, as well as the hasty police dismissal of it. What’s worse, several weeks earlier, Black met two of the deceased, who told him they thought they were being followed. He assured them their paranoia was unjustified. Now he’s wondering how he could have been so wrong. As Black and his companion, Elmer (Snake) Slezak, work to unravel the crime, they uncover a convoluted trail leading back to the household of the wealthy centenarian who hired them to find the dog. Black soon uncovers a bizarre gambling ring in which wealthy young sociopaths wager huge sums on their ability to destroy ordinary lives for kicks. Complicating matters, a substantial reward for the dog has brought a gang of ne’er-do-wells out of the woodwork, one of whom is linked to gunmen from California as well as to the household of Black’s client. The case comes to a boil when the gunmen try to throw Snake off a cliff in Seattle’s Discovery Park . . . and the bodies begin to pile up. less