Mon 9 Jul 2012
Reviewed by Allen J. Hubin: EARL W. EMERSON – Deviant Behavior.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews1 Comment
Allen J. Hubin
EARL W. EMERSON – Deviant Behavior. William Morrow & Co., hardcover, 1988. Ballantine, paperback, 1991.
The latest case for Thomas Black, Seattle private eye, is Deviant Behavior by Earl W. Emerson. This is an impressive tale, with emphatic characterizations and a sinewy plot.
The wealthy Steebs, Dudley and Faith, hire Black to find their missing adopted son Elmore, age seventeen. Thomas traces Elmore to an abandoned hotel, the building from which Elmore’s uncle (and Dudley’s business partner) leaped to his death six years earlier.
Elmore is carrying unaccountably large sums of money, has given his girlfriend an expensive ring. The trail also leads to a retired film director, now a sort of guru to the local young, and his actress wife. But then the trail goes dead, very dead….
Vol. 11, No. 1, Winter 1989.
The Thomas Black series —
1. The Rainy City (1984)
2. Poverty Bay (1985)
3. Nervous Laughter (1985)
4. Fat Tuesday (1987)
5. Deviant Behavior (1988)
6. Yellow Dog Party (1991)
7. The Portland Laugher (1994)
8. The Vanishing Smile (1995) Shamus Award Best Novel nominee (1996).
9. The Million-Dollar Tattoo (1996)
10. Deception Pass (1997) Shamus and Anthony Awards Best novel nominee (1998).
11. Catfish Cafe (1998)
12. Cape Disappointment (2009)
July 9th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
There is a pattern I’ve discovered about myself by posting these old reviews on this blog. I didn’t realize in a way that I’ve ever put into words, but I’ve had a tendency to read the first two, three, maybe four books in a series, and then put it aside in favor of the next new writer that attracts my attention.
That’s what’s happened here. I read the first four Thomas Black books, enjoyed them, but only collected the rest, to be “read later.” That last one, though, that came after a gap of some 11 years. I don’t believe I ever knew about that one until now.