Yellow Dog Party: A Thomas Black Mystery [Hardcover]

Earl W. Emerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1991

Four successful businessmen want Thomas Black to track down the four women they've had secret crushes on for years and set up "dream dates" with them. But Black, on the trail of the first dreamgirl, finds a woman battered into a coma instead. And then a double murder and the disappearance of another dreamgirl make Black realize how quickly dreams can turn into deadly nightmares . . .

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The hard-boiled, wisecracking detective with a heart of gold is alive (just barely) and not well at all when we first meet him in this clever, well-paced mystery. Hired by four area businessmen to locate the women of their dreams, Seattle private eye Thomas Black (last seen in Deviant Behavior ) soon finds himself up a tree, nearly lynched, by three thugs in Miss Piggy masks. What began as a routine--if somewhat odd--case immediately becomes for Black a cause. Determined to ferret out the identities of the hangmen to settle his own vendetta while on a case tracking down the "dream woman" who got him into trouble with them in the first place, he uncovers long-buried secrets that quickly lead to murder. Emerson, a lieutenant with the Seattle fire department, doesn't miss a beat in carving out his detective's niche in the genre: from the stunning sidekick--Black is much too proud to admit his love for her--to the missing woman's abandoned daughters--whom he takes in and comes to adore--we see a man who is far more than just some remote sleuth out to get a job done.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Detective Thomas Black, Seattle's answer to Boston's Spenser, finds a laugher of a case: four middle-aged, successful but middling unhappy guys hire him to trace, and then arrange dates with, their dreamgirls (a former high-school cheerleader; a Mariner season ticket-holder; a porn pinup; a former TV newscaster). But the job all too quickly turns brutal when one of Thomas's leads is battered into a coma; her two kids are tracked by goons who want them bad enough to hang Thomas (almost fatally) for information; and when one of the men looking for a date is murdered, along with a transvestite relative of the ex-cheerleader. Could the dates be a cover-up for something else? Thomas eventually ties one of the foursome to a 20-year-old hit-and-run case, as well as to a dirty cop on his own payroll who killed to keep his secret. Mean and lean with genially tongue-in-cheek patter between Thomas and his ladylove, lawyer Kathy. Though less than top-notch for Emerson, it's still going to give the competition--Parker and Lutz, for example--a few jealous twinges. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 287 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688096352
• ISBN-13: 978-0688096359
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,152,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By the far the best of any Earl Emerson book., February 21, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Yellow Dog Party (Thomas Black Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read all of the Earl Emerson books. The Yellow DogParty is by far the best. The plot is extremely strong and the depth at which the writing goes is endless. Check this book out.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yellow Dog Party, September 1, 2002

By 

Ricky N. "Ricky C. Nelson" (Commerce, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yellow Dog Party (Thomas Black Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Yellow Dog Party" is the sixth Thomas Black mystery by Earl Emerson. Floyd Boyd, Jimmy Canfield, Denny McCallum, and Rex Ronquist hold an annual beer bash and party in honor of Canfield's yellow dog who was killed by a Ritz Cracker truck. They call it the Yellow Dog Party. These 4 friends who are successful businessmen ask PI Thomas Black to find 4 women with whom they want to have "dream dates." When Black finds the first woman, she is in a coma in an Oregon hospital. As he and friend Kathy Birchfield are leaving the hospital, they are abducted by 3 masked men. Kathy is able to run, but Thomas is assaulted and hung from a tree. Luckily for him, the branch snaps and he is spared. He begins to hunt down these 3 men and find out why they wanted to kill him. As he searches for the other 3 women, it becomes clear that one of the 4 men has an ulterior motive. Then Denny McCallum is found murdered in a hotel room. This novel also deals with the relationship of Thomas Black and Kathy Birchfield. Kathy announces that she is engaged to her boyfriend, Philip. With the possibility of losing her, Thomas finally tells her that he loves her and they kiss. The next books will have to deal with this situation. "Yellow Dog Party" is one of the best of the Thomas Black novels and is highly recommended.