The Vanishing Smile
Earl Emerson
ebook $3.99

I was in the mood for a private eye novel a couple of weeks ago. I’d picked up an old paperback copy of The Vanishing Smile somewhere during the last few months, so I thought I’d give it a try. I knew this wasn’t the first book in the series (The Rainy City), as I had a copy of that one along with a few of Emerson’s other books. But sometimes series really don’t hit their stride until two or three volumes in, so I decided to give The Vanishing Smile a try.

I’m glad I did.  This is not a stand-alone novel.  There are plenty of references to events from prior books, but they don’t interfere with the current storyline.  Emerson gives enough of the back story so that you’re not lost, but never enough to slow down the action.

Seattle based detective Thomas Black is set up by his father.  Expecting to meet his father at a restaurant, instead he finds his former lover, Kathy.  The whole thing is a bit awkward because Black had killed her fiance some months before.  It had been an accident, but that’s not something a lady can just shrug off.

They begin the process of making amends, by going to meet one of Kathy’s clients at a place up in the mountains.  The client, Marion Wright, had been investigating some men who had done her and some of her girlfriends wrong.  Only on the way up the mountain, a woman steps out in front of Kathy’s car.  The woman turns out to be Marion Wright.

Now Black is trying to figure out if Marion’s death is really an accident or an elaborate homicide.  It’s going to be a wild ride, heart wrenching ride, especially if he can survive at bat wielding assailant.

The Vanishing Smile was a thoroughly enjoyable read.  Thomas Black is a complex, sympathetic character who isn’t afraid to mix it up with the bad guys.  And his relationship with Kathy is much more real than your typical PI romance.

I’ll be picking up the rest of the books in this series, especially since they’re available in inexpensive ebook editions.