133 Members (3.82)
On This Page
Description
"Emerson is carving his own special niche among a new generation of private-eye writers....He writes lean, muscular prose to carry his fast-moving action." --The Washington Post Book World A curious couple offers Seattle private eye Thomas Black a strange proposal: play guardian angel to an unlikely stalking victim named Billy Battle, a brooding ex-con with a psychotic history of unproven murder and mayhem. Hot on Billy's trail is the man who helped send him up the river, and who just may show more want Billy dead for his own peace of mind. It's a case that puts Black in the hospital partially paralyzed, plagued with memory loss and a monstrous sense of doom. And when menacing phone calls from a maniacally laughing stranger begin to haunt Black, he can't help but wonder if the last, wicked laugh will be on him. ( "EMERSON'S BIGGEST, DARKEST NOVEL YET, a clangorous three-alarmer that'll leave you wound tighter than Billy Battle...Hair-raising." --Kirkus Reviews "Earl Emerson writes with the richness and grace of a poet. This guy is good, and THE PORTLAND LAUGHER is the best book yet in the Thomas Black series!" --Robert Crais show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
26+ Works 2,555 Members
Earl Emerson was born July 8, 1948 in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of the very popular Mac Fontana series as well as the Thomas Black detective series. He won the Shamus Award in 1985 for Poverty Bay, his second novel in the Thomas Black series. He was again nominated for a Shamus for his novel The Vanishing Smile in 1996 (another in the show more Thomas Black series). Emerson's writing is described as vivid with witty dialog and complex but impeccably credible plots. Emerson remains a lieutenant with the Seattle Fire Department (his Mac Fontana character is a small town fire chief) and lives in North Bend, Washington. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Portland Laugher
- Original publication date
- 1994
- People/Characters
- Thomas Black; Billy Battle; Elmer "Snake" Slezak; Kathy Birchfield; Philip Bacon
- Important places
- Portland, Oregon, USA
- First words
- My lack of visitors continues to baffle me.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I went inside to a warm place and let a cool whiteness bandage the city.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 133
- Popularity
- 244,953
- Rating
- (3.82)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 4
