Customer Reviews

Catfish Cafe

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

PI Thomas Black, an ex-Seattle cop, is asked by his old partner, Luther, for help finding Luther's daughter. The daughter had been driving a car later found turned over in a ditch with a dead body in the back seat. Did she kill him? Is someone trying to kill her? Is she already dead? This was an exciting and very well-written mystery. The tunnel scene at the end had me so riveted I missed my bus stop. Now that's something! Highly recommended!

Having read the previous reviews, it's kind of laughable that this novel gets reviews of either 5 stars or 1 star. Neither is a particularly accurate judgment, no matter what the standards. The writing is excellent, with imagery as good as any Emerson novel (and better than 95% of the authors out there), the characters are interesting, but the 'mysteries' here are as predictable as any novel out there. I find it disappointing to be 5 chapters ahead of the protagonist, particularly in a story told in a first person narrative. The story of Ben Aldrich could have been interesting, but instead was the most predictable plot device I have seen in any of Emerson's previous books. The ending was so-so, and if not for the strong narrative style, would not have been worth the effort. Dennis Lehane has done a much better job in recent years if presenting racial and class differences while presenting strong detective stories. I expect this to be one weak effort from Mr. Emerson and not indicative of anything, but I hope that as much effort will go into the storyline next time as into the characters and settings.

Not as bad as some reviews, but certainly not on par with some of the other reviews. The idea that the bad reviews are due to a reader not wanting to know that much about a 'poor African American family' is ridiculous, totally unsupported by the reviews themselves, and makes me wonder if Al Sharpton is posting reviews here now. Do not make the mistake of thinking that, because race is major factor in this novel, that that alone should somehow make the work exempt from an accurate review.

This was the first of the Thomas Black mysteries that I have read and I am hooked. Emerson keeps the action going in each chapter and the ending was unpredictable. The charcaters were well established and so was the atomsphere around the city.

I have to agree with the reader from Seattle. Did some readers not like this book due to its in-depth portrayal of an urban African-American family? Or did the book seem too serious to them after the manic "Million-Dollar Tattoo" (which is a classic!)?

I think Emerson did a helluva job making the intricate relationships believable without drawing racial caricatures, as well as depicting the difficulties facing a white P.I. struggling to sort through the subcultural undercurrents while solving a missing person/murder case.

Thomas Black books are addictive, and I'm already needing another fix.

I've read all of Emerson's books, and this one just wasn't quite as great as the rest of them. It's hard to find fault with this writer since his protagonist is such a likeable character, living and working in my favorite city, but this was just kind of a downer for me. Eagerly awaiting Earl's next effort. Where in the damp Northwest will Thomas have his next (mis)adventure? I'd like to write Mr. Emerson personally, but don't know how. Please keep us up to date on coming books.

I can't believe these other reviews of Catfish Cafe. It was one of the best novels I've read in years and I read a lot. It is funny, sad, and poignant. The milieu Emerson delves into in the African-American community in Seattle is fascinating and, from what I know of it, accurate. The relationship between Luther and his children was well-drawn and intriguing. I really believe the previous critic who said this was boring was bored because he or she didn't want to read about poor African-Americans. Yet, Emerson has really disected this family. I found them fascinating. It worked as a mystery, but it worked better as a novel. I've read only one other Thomas Black novel but you can bet I'm going to read more. This guy is good.

In Seattle, Luthor Little asks his former police partner, private investigator Thomas Black, to help him locate his missing daughter Balinda. Apparently, Balinda left behind her purse with nothing inside it, a wrecked car, and a bullet-ridden corpse in her back seat. Thomas frantically begins to investigate the disappearance of Balinda and the identity of who killed the man in the car because he fears for the missing girl's life.

In his eleventh outing, Thomas Black remains one of the most interesting sleuths of the nineties. His latest novel, CATFISH CAFE, is a very good who-done-it, that reads even better as a family saga. The support cast, who are mostly Luthor's family, is a great ensemble. Especially fun to read about is grandma and her use of puzzles to simultaneously dodge and answer Thomas' inquiries. Shamus Award winning Earl Emerson is the emperor of the Northwest who-done-it and anyone who has not tried one of his novels is missing out on a fabulous treat.

Harriet Klausner

I wish that I had read the Kirkus Review before I read this book. I couldn't have said it better myself. I have to wonder if Earl Emerson is running out of ideas. I have enjoyed all of his books in the Thomas Black series, except for this one and the Million Dollar Tattoo, and this one was a major disappointment. The "twists" were predictable and too easy, and the "who-dun-it" left me saying "Who cares?" I found it to be a very weak story, and hope that Mr. Emerson has some better plotlines still up his sleeve. This one wasn't worth the time I spent, not only reading it, but waiting for it to come out.

This is the first book I have read by Emerson. Although it's a small book, it was a difficult read. The writing was a bit stale and uninteresting. There's not a lot going on in this book besides rather straight and to-the-point storytelling. There were a lot of characters--too many to keep track of--suffering from under-development.

In some parts of the novel, I found it difficult to track who was saying what because the thoughts and/or actions of one character were contained in the same paragraph as the dialogue of another character. A small complaint, maybe. But when carried on over a few pages, this style of dialogue writing is unnecessarily confusing and cramps the novel's flow.

I may read another Emerson book, to give him a fair "shake", but it will be much lower on my reading list.