Customer Reviews

Deception Pass (Thomas Black Mysteries)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emerson's only moderately competent private eye sails through a tale that presents moral dilemmas as well as insights into relationships without being pretentious, some wildly improbable characters, witty wise-guy prose and a strongly realistic evocation of the West Coast. Easy reading and excellent of its type!

I've read all of Emerson's Thomas Black books and have enjoyed every single one of them. (I'm currently reading Catfish Cafe). I started reading this series almost 10 years ago and am constantly waiting for new ones to come out. The humor as well as mystery in his books keep you reading until the very end. I'm not into really gory and scary books but I love mysteries. Emerson's writing gives me exactly what I want. Deception Pass was not quite as suspenseful as some of his other books (try Million Dollar Tattoo). I kind of knew the ending in the middle of the book, but I read mostly because I enjoy the character Thomas Black and I like to hear the descriptions of Seattle in the books. This book is written in the typical Emerson style and you won't be disappointed!

Deception Pass is the tenth Thomas Black mystery by Earl Emerson. The books are suspenseful PI novels set within the framework of the relationship between Thomas, a quick-witted, smart-mouthed private investigator and his best friend, Kathy Birchfield. The friendship between the two will feel familiar to anyone who has had a very good friend of the opposite sex and who has wondered, at times during that friendship, whether it could deepen into something romantic.

In early Thomas Black books, Thomas and Kathy's friendship provides both context and subplot. Then in the third book, "Yellow Dog Party," the relationship shifts and leads into "The Portland Laugher," where it takes center stage. "Laugher" is Emerson's darkest, most complex book, sending the reader on an emotional roller coaster that ends satisfyingly in the following book, "The Vanishing Smile."

Two books later, though, you might wonder what else there is to say. In "Deception Pass," Thomas and Kathy are happily married. Neither has an incurable disease, has been kidnapped or is cheating on the other. So now what? Must we just to do without the funny verbal sparring, the sexual tension, that has characterized the other books?

Happily, the answer is no. In "Deception Pass," Thomas and Kathy have settled into the kind of easy relationship they had in the first books, except that Kathy lives upstairs with Thomas instead of downstairs in the basement apartment, and they fool around occasionally.

One October morning, Kathy brings Thomas a new client. The client is Lainie Smith, Seattle's "Mother Theresa with a bankroll," as Thomas puts it. Lainie is being blackmailed by someone who claims Lainie was involved in a grisly multiple homicide that took place in a cabin at Deception Pass more than seventeen years ago.

Although she claims she wasn't involved, Lainie admits that as a teenager she knew a drifter named Charlie Groth, the man who was ultimately convicted of the murders and recently executed. She's terrified the blackmailer will reveal her past as a runaway and a drug addict, a past she has been trying to attone for ever since.

At Kathy's urging, Thomas takes the case. His investigation leads him to the original cast of characters involved in Groth's apprehension, trial and twelve-year-long appeal. Although, each one knows about the mystery woman Groth claimed actually committed the murders, none of them has been able to find her--not now and not seventeen years ago when the crime was committed. Or so they say.

When his chief suspect in the blackmailing is found murdered, Thomas realizes he's caught up in a series of lies nearly twenty years old. With growing doubts about even his own client, he continues to sift through the layers of deception to uncover the truth about what happened that night at Deception Pass. What he finds forces him to reexamine not only Charlie Groth and Lainie Smith's concept of guilt and innocence, but his own.

Deception Pass is an excellent book in an excellent series. I highly recommend it.

This was the first (but not the last) Earl W. Emerson book I've read. I found it very enjoyable, and could not put it down until I was done. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I especially enjoyed all the references to familiar places. I went to our local bookstore this afternoon and purchased several more Earl W. Emerson mysteries. Can't wait to get started. Going back to start at the beginning of the Thomas Black series with "Rainy City", as I would like to see his relationship with Kathy unfold in chronological order. Highly recommended and just plain fun!

I was lucky enough to catch Earl Emerson on television recently and now I'm hooked on his books. Not being a reader of mysteries I have found his writing to be a nice change of pace from my usual fare. Mr. Emerson has a style of writing that I refer to as conversational. His dialogue is witty and informal. It's as if he is speaking rather than writing and I find it to be a nice change from many of the history writers I read. Without giving away any of the story Deception Pass seemed to be wrapped up in the first fifty or so pages. I wondered what could possibly be left to tell in the next 250 pages? Little did I realize that the story was only just beginning rather than concluding. I knew there had to be a reason why the eventual murderer was introduced to the story, but I never would have guessed he was the one. To the bitter end I suspected it was somebody else (I don't know who. Just somebody else.) I had a great time trying, in vain, to identify the killer. In summary Deception Pass is a quick read that is also thoroughly enjoyable.

I have just started to read Earl Emerson's books and am pleasantly surprised. They are not loaded down with a lot of details and have interesting plots. I look forward to reading more of his books.

Emerson's books are a new discovery for me, and I'm having a blast reading them. I haven't liked a detective as much as Thomas Black since A.A. Fair was cranking out the Donald Lam mysteries. And that's been quite a while back! The repartee between Black and his Mrs. rates up there with the quick-fire variety of Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell in the film "His Girl Friday." God bless Emerson, he has the gift of being able to write philosopically without drifting into the maudlin, but not so much so that the reader will start to wonder if Travis McGee had moved from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle. The story moves right along with a stunning, sometimes freakish cast of minor characters that alternately leave one laughing or gagging. I'm so happy to have found Emerson's books, and I'm REALLY looking forward to the ones I've not yet read.

I most definitely recommend Earl Emerson's books. The detail in regard to fire fighting definitely will hold a fire fighter's attention. Hard to put his books down!

I enjoy this author and Thomas Black is a likeable detective. I found this book to be above the norm for the writer. The premise of the story is intriguing--a pillar of the community admitting that she was at least a witness to a horrendous murder a number of years ago and is now being blackmailed. The fun parts of the story are trying to figure out how someone knew about her since the actual murderer has been executed and trying to figure out how and why the murders actually happened. The substance of the story is increased by the fact that the blackmail victim for whom the detective is working isn't particularly honorable or even likeable. I recommend this book and if you happen to be from the Seattle/Puget Sound area, there's an extra plus that you will recognize most of the places where events occur.

Ultra-Rich businesswoman and renowned philanthropist, Lainie Smith hires Seattle private investigator Thomas Black to find out who is blackmailing her and how he or she obtained information that should not be known by anyone. Lainie refuses to provide specific information on what she is actually being blackmailed for, but does tell Thomas that she has paid $2,000 a week for the past three weeks. She is not worried about the money, but how far the blackmailer will go and especially what will happen if "the cat got out of the bag". Thomas' wife, attorney Kathy, accepts the job for him even though he admits he has little experience with blackmail cases.

Apparently, seventeen years ago, a drug crazed Lainie was involved in a mass murder at DECEPTION PASS in which her man was tried, convicted, and executed for the crimes, while she disappeared into the night. Meanwhile, Thomas uncovers several potential perps, but the obvious individual, the money collector, is found dead. As more information surfaces, Kathy and Thomas realize that their client faces a potential murder charge that will probably convict her if the law finds out about her involvement.

DECEPTION PASS is a refreshing spin on the guilty client twist. The story line rapidly moves forward and the support cast (especially Kathy and Lainie) is very interesting as they provide a genuine feel to the tale. Thomas is quite good when he glibly explains sleuthing techniques, but at times his constant witticisms (at a faster rate than Henny Youngman in his prime) overwhelms segments of the novel. Still, Earl Emerson's tenth Thomas Black story is quite a powerful book that fans of cleverly written mysteries will immensely enjoy.

Harriet Klausner