Catfish Cafe by Earl Emerson

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1998
ISBN: 9780345422026
ID: S00010468

Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on a custom designed bookplate and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.

Price in US $ 31.50

Summary: Former firefighter Earl W. Emerson writes two very interesting mystery series: one about small-town Washington State fire chief Mac Fontana and another about Seattle private investigator Thomas Black. All of Emerson's stories are haunted by ghosts from his characters' pasts, and none more so than this latest, where Emerson sends Black on a long, tangled, and not always obvious search through the roots of the African American family of his former police partner, Luther Little. Little's daughter has disappeared, leaving behind a car full of bullet holes, a dead young white man, and nine birth certificates that raise lots of troubling questions about fraud and parental responsibility. As Black grapples with ancient crimes and current human failure, his sharp and sexy lawyer wife, Kathy Birchfield, is--as always--on hand to keep him focussed. Other Thomas Black books in paperback: "Deception Pass", "The Million-Dollar Tattoo", "Nervous Laughter". "--Dick Adler"

Million-Dollar Tattoo by Earl Emerson

Publisher: "Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Ballantine Books, 1996", 1996
ISBN: 0345400666
ID: S00010152

"Hardcover with jacket not price clipped, signed by author on custom designed bookplate 1st edition,1st printing, complete numberline including the number 1, not a bookclub or ex-library, tight square, white pages, no markings of any kind, mimimum scuffing and edge wear. Fine book in fine dust jacket, F/F. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for Author's Signature."

Price in US $ 31.50

Summary: It's the dead of night, and P.I. Thomas Black is dead asleep. What better time for a panicked phone call from a friend?
The friend is Elmer Slezak, better known as Snake, a fellow gumshoe whose life has long since slipped into a dark mire of wine, women, and weirdness. Now, he's begging Black to take on a case that's one for The X-Files. There's a beautiful, exotic-looking woman dead in Snake's bed. He's not sure how she died, but he's certain about where she came from--outer space.
Even a murder rap and the specter of prison can't make Snake change his story. Thomas Black's job? To rescue the increasingly paranoid Snake and discover if indeed "the truth is out there."
What Black finds--after run-ins with a burly biker chick, a loveless homicide cop, a mysterious homeless man who may have witnessed a murder, and a corporation that's courting Black with big bucks--will prove to be more "out there" than even he could ever imagine. . . .
Hot on the heels of The Portland Laugher and The Vanishing Smile, Earl Emerson brings back Seattle's sassiest, savviest shamus, Thomas Black. With his trademark wit, storytelling verve, and muscular prose, Emerson once again confirms that he is "carving out his own special niche among a new generation of private-eye writers" (The Washington Post). The Million-Dollar Tattoo is an indelible tale of intrigue that's guaranteed to astonish and delight.

Million-Dollar Tattoo by Earl Emerson

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1996
ISBN: 9780345400666
ID: P000500303

Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on a custom designed bookplate and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.

Price in US $ 31.50

Summary: It's the dead of night, and P.I. Thomas Black is dead asleep. What better time for a panicked phone call from a friend?
The friend is Elmer Slezak, better known as Snake, a fellow gumshoe whose life has long since slipped into a dark mire of wine, women, and weirdness. Now, he's begging Black to take on a case that's one for The X-Files. There's a beautiful, exotic-looking woman dead in Snake's bed. He's not sure how she died, but he's certain about where she came from--outer space.
Even a murder rap and the specter of prison can't make Snake change his story. Thomas Black's job? To rescue the increasingly paranoid Snake and discover if indeed "the truth is out there."
What Black finds--after run-ins with a burly biker chick, a loveless homicide cop, a mysterious homeless man who may have witnessed a murder, and a corporation that's courting Black with big bucks--will prove to be more "out there" than even he could ever imagine. . . .
Hot on the heels of The Portland Laugher and The Vanishing Smile, Earl Emerson brings back Seattle's sassiest, savviest shamus, Thomas Black. With his trademark wit, storytelling verve, and muscular prose, Emerson once again confirms that he is "carving out his own special niche among a new generation of private-eye writers" (The Washington Post). The Million-Dollar Tattoo is an indelible tale of intrigue that's guaranteed to astonish and delight.

Pyro by Earl Emerson

Publisher: "Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Ballantine Books", 2004
ISBN: 0345462882
ID: S00010154

Flat Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on the title page and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.

Price in US $ 31.50

Summary: In his pulse-pounding thrillers, Earl Emerson takes readers into the heart of the world’s most dangerous profession, where the next alarm might bring sudden death. Based on stunning, actual events in the author’s life, this electrifying new novel is a frightening duel between a Seattle firefighter and a man who wants to burn him down. . . .


To a firefighter, there’s nothing worse than a nuisance arsonist. His multiple fires keep a station up at night, running in circles, and more vulnerable at the next “real” call. And in Seattle, Lt. Paul Wollf of the Station Six’s ladder truck hates a pyro more than most. Two decades before, an arsonist’s fire killed Wolff’s firefighter father, sending his mother into a spiral of depression and triggering a chain of events that left his brother in jail for murder and Wollf alone, seething in anger and isolation.

Already disciplined for punching out a superior officer, Wollf is now taking a young female firefighter under his wing. Despite the stationhouse leers and jokes, Wollf is only doing what comes naturally, helping out an underdog and bucking the system. But soon he and Cindy Rideout find themselves in a fierce political battle inside the department, just as a pyro starts to turn Seattle into his private little hell.


With fires springing up across the city, Wollf begins to see a pattern. The fires being set are coming closer and closer to Station Six. And when a crucial piece of evidence turns up, Wollf suspects the unthinkable: this pyro has turned him into a fiery target.

In Paul Wollf, Earl Emerson has created a hero on the brink. For when the pyro’s rampage puts Wollf in the public limelight, Wollf must choose between his burning rage and the chance to step back–for once–and see a shocking truth hidden beyond the heat.

Smoke Room by Earl Emerson

Publisher: "Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Ballantine Books", 2005
ISBN: 0345462904
ID: S00010153

"Hardcover with jacket in Mylar cover, not price clipped, signed by author on custom designed bookplate, 1st ed./1st printing, complete numberline with #1, trade (retail) edition, not bookclub or ex-library. CONDITION: BOOK Fine - tight square, white pages, no markings of any kind. JACKET: Fine - minimum scuffing and edge wear. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for Author's Signature."

Price in US $ 31.50

Summary: From the terror of a lightless, smoke-clogged building to the secrets kept by the men and women who trust their partners with their lives, Earl Emerson knows the world of firefighting like no other author–and writes about it with passion and piercing honesty. In his remarkable new thriller, Emerson fuses together a gripping drama with unforgettable scenes of peril that, in this realm, can explode at any second.

Jason Gun, a risk-taking rookie firefighter who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, has found in his firehouse the family he never had as a child. Then, in one ill-fated turn of events, it all begins to go wrong.

A bizarre accident brings a thrill-seeking woman into Engine Company 29–and into Jason’s life. Suddenly, his future on the job is at risk. Two fellow firefighters know that he missed a call because of some sexual heroics at the wrong time and place. Now, deeply in their debt, he will find out what kind of men his partners really are.

When these two firefighters come upon a fortune in missing bearer bonds–money found in a dead man’s house–Jason is forced to become an accessory to their crime. And when evidence of their greed, foolishness, and thievery begins to emerge, Jason is witness to an even darker deed.

Suddenly, the twenty-four-year-old, who only wanted to do the right thing, is trapped behind a wall of silence. Trying to undo his mistake, Jason moves further into the darkness, where a beautiful young woman might just be his emotional rescue–or yet one more very wrong move. Unfortunately for Jason, the worst isn’t behind him. Like a fire hit by wind, the killing has raged out of control.

Capturing the thin line that separates a hero from a criminal, and an enemy from a friend, Earl Emerson’s new novel is a gripping tale of a man’s dangerous fall from grace–and of his fierce battle for redemption.

The Smoke Room: A Novel of Suspense by Earl Emerson

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2005
ISBN: 9780345462909
ID: P000500918

Signed! Hardcover first edition / first printing. Fine book in fine jacket, not price clipped, Signed on a custom designed bookplate and is author's signature only. Minimum scuffing and edge wear. No writing or marks. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity for author's signature.

Price in US $ 31.50

Summary: From the terror of a lightless, smoke-clogged building to the secrets kept by the men and women who trust their partners with their lives, Earl Emerson knows the world of firefighting like no other author–and writes about it with passion and piercing honesty. In his remarkable new thriller, Emerson fuses together a gripping drama with unforgettable scenes of peril that, in this realm, can explode at any second.

Jason Gun, a risk-taking rookie firefighter who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, has found in his firehouse the family he never had as a child. Then, in one ill-fated turn of events, it all begins to go wrong.