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Thomas Black #13
Monica's Sister
In the thirteenth installment of the award-winning private eye series featuring Seattle sleuth Thomas Black, Black agrees to do a favor for a longtime friend of Kathy’s, Angela Bassman, who quickly gets him tangled in a messy relationship between philandering billionaire, Clark Lloyd Self and his famous ex-model wife, Monica Pennington. Bassman wants Black to help her disrupt the already shaky marriage, while Black wants nothing to do with it.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 6, 2013
10 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Earl Emerson
33 books92 followersEarl Emerson is a lieutenant in the Seattle Fire Department. He is the Shamus Award-winning author of Vertical Burn, as well as the Thomas Black detective series. He lives in North Bend, Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 14, 2019
I would give this 4.5 stars if I could. This is a very good entry in the Thomas Black series (# 13). A bi-polar friend of Kathy's commits suicide and the girls' sister hires Black to find out what drove her to do it. Black finds plenty of clues but it takes him quite a while to put it together. Some parts are quite harrowing as black is stalked by a muscular killer and his crazy sidekick. Highly recommended to Thomas Black fans.
January 16, 2022
9.5 out of 10. Bad guys get what is coming to them.
July 31, 2017
Ah, it’s good to be reading a Thomas Black story again. Black is back with his lovely wife, Kathy, a good-hearted woman who makes some interesting friends. One of them is Angela Bassman, a woman who shows up all the time like a bad penny, making ridiculous charges against anyone and everyone, and bragging about having so many friends in high places, having done such fantastic things, that one is left rolling one’s eyes. And so when Thomas hears Angela’s voice approaching his office, he does what any thinking human being would do: he leaps into the closet and shuts the door. Anything to avoid that woman!
The wheels of the story start moving, and things get more complicated. Angela, whose famous sister is the actress, Monica Pennington, hires Black to help her with what is supposed to be a simple task, but isn’t. He would like to back out, but he smells a rat. Despite the crazy nature of Angela’s claims, she is obviously being followed by someone. Strange things happen, and too many coincidences occur. Whether Angela is crazy or whether she isn’t, his detective’s intuition starts to quiver, and he becomes more entangled in her affairs than he had anticipated, especially when she falls to her death, and he sees it happen. Later, Pennington hires Black to find out why Angela killed herself. Because of course, that’s what happened…isn’t it?
More:http://seattlebookmamablog.org/2015/0...
The wheels of the story start moving, and things get more complicated. Angela, whose famous sister is the actress, Monica Pennington, hires Black to help her with what is supposed to be a simple task, but isn’t. He would like to back out, but he smells a rat. Despite the crazy nature of Angela’s claims, she is obviously being followed by someone. Strange things happen, and too many coincidences occur. Whether Angela is crazy or whether she isn’t, his detective’s intuition starts to quiver, and he becomes more entangled in her affairs than he had anticipated, especially when she falls to her death, and he sees it happen. Later, Pennington hires Black to find out why Angela killed herself. Because of course, that’s what happened…isn’t it?
More:http://seattlebookmamablog.org/2015/0...
October 1, 2013
When Angela Bassman knocks on Seattle P.I. Thomas Black’s door, common sense tells him to hide. No matter that she’s one of his wife’s oldest friends and in dire need of help. At least that’s her version. Thomas’s version is that she’s, as usual, “bat-shit crazy.” With a healthy nudge from his wife, Thomas dips a reluctant toe into the tilt-a-wheel world of Angela’s troubled mind and is sucked into a power play of money and murder.
After a ten-year hiatus, Black is back. Packed with slick, smart red-herrings, Emerson uses a deft hand and a dose of compassion to illuminate the frailty of the human condition and the path to redemption.
After a ten-year hiatus, Black is back. Packed with slick, smart red-herrings, Emerson uses a deft hand and a dose of compassion to illuminate the frailty of the human condition and the path to redemption.
September 29, 2014
Another great Thomas Black story. With Seattle as the backdrop, Black investigates an apparent suicide and deals with his own regrets about his behavior towards the victim. As usual, Black knows his strengths and weaknesses and pushes just past his limits in his search for the truth. An interesting and thought provoking read. Recommend along with all the other books in this series and the Mac Fontana series.
July 1, 2014
An entertaining mystery, irreverent and suspenseful. This thirteenth book in the Thomas Black series perfectly captures the damp, cool atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest. A good choice for that next transcontinental plane ride.
November 27, 2017
Good to read Black again
May 25, 2017
This was a decent detective story by a local author. It is nice to read about familiar sights and scenes in a book that might help you connect to the characters some.
An ok read with some very compelling characters that are easy to empathize with. Some good action especially towards the end of the book. Character development and depth are really good in this book.
Some foul language, and mention of sex and some deviant sexual practices, but nothing overt or explicit.
I would not go out of my way to read another one of these books, but if I pick one up at the library's withdrawn book sale - I would read it.
An ok read with some very compelling characters that are easy to empathize with. Some good action especially towards the end of the book. Character development and depth are really good in this book.
Some foul language, and mention of sex and some deviant sexual practices, but nothing overt or explicit.
I would not go out of my way to read another one of these books, but if I pick one up at the library's withdrawn book sale - I would read it.
April 7, 2019
Too chaotic. The narrative is very jumpy as Black looks into the death of his wife’s friend who seems to have committed suicide. Only “seems” since she’s making accusations against her brother in law who’s a financial mogul. Black gets batted around and menaced. It’s never quite clear what’s going on. The bad guys overplay their hand with violence as per usual. Black feels guilty because he never really liked the woman who was bipolar and unlikeable. It’s absolutely unbelievable that she actually climbed K2. Like this detail, too much is over the top and exaggerated - manic in its own way. Also it’s really obvious whodunnit.
August 24, 2024
Can't get enough of Earl Emerson
I started reading his books at work when someone left it there. I was so enthralled that I had to read more. And living near Seattle is a bonus as I know the places that he talks about in his books. The books are funny, gritty and keeps you guessing until the end. I hope he comes out with more!
Keep up the great work Earl! You have a fan for life!
I started reading his books at work when someone left it there. I was so enthralled that I had to read more. And living near Seattle is a bonus as I know the places that he talks about in his books. The books are funny, gritty and keeps you guessing until the end. I hope he comes out with more!
Keep up the great work Earl! You have a fan for life!
August 9, 2017
Pretty good but nothing particularly special. A good story, well enough written, just nothing special.
August 9, 2019
You shouldn't be able to solve a mystery a couple chapters in, the instant the victim is killed. And you really, really shouldn't be able to solve it because “drain” rhymes with “Crane.” lol
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2019
Implausible
Wow. Haven’t read an Emerson novel in several years. He has NOT improved. I found this implausible and not very compelling. Oh well.
Wow. Haven’t read an Emerson novel in several years. He has NOT improved. I found this implausible and not very compelling. Oh well.
June 24, 2025
This was a taut mystery, but the lack of editing was hard on me. Typos and grammatical errors were a problem for me...
August 20, 2013
(Warning: review contains minor spoilers. The original longer review appears at http://theryancokeexperience.wordpres...)
So Earl Emerson came out with a new book, Monica’s Sister.
Monica’s Sister is the 13th book in the Thomas Black series. His wife’s friend Angela ends up dead, with most people thinking it’s a suicide. Black is hired by Angela’s sister, Monica to find out the truth. At the same time, he’s in trouble with Monica’s husband, Clark Lloyd Self and Self’s bodyguards, one of which is a monster of a man.
I loved the book. There were a couple of small points that got to me though:
1) I figured out the killer pretty early on, so I thought a swerve was coming that wouldn’t show you it was who I thought it was. But it didn’t come. So I don’t know if a lot of people figured it out, or if was just me, but with no swerve, it felt like I missing something.
2) There were a couple of times when things on pages didn’t mesh. At one point, Black was describing a woman he met, saying she had the kind of face where you couldn’t tell how old she was. Then on the next page, he said the woman was 35 years old. It didn’t go very well.
But the action was still good, and the thing about Emerson’s book is the sense of humour. It’s crazy witty, and makes me crack up quite a bit. Even Emerson brings it up, calling it “black” humour (haha… get it?).
And I thought at the end that Monica ended up with a Robin Hood complex, which was a nice touch. She thought because her husband gave to the poor, it didn’t matter if he got his money from the rich.
The book is a great read, and hard to put down. One of things I like a lot about Emerson’s writing is that there aren’t 130 chapters in each book like some authors have. It makes each chapter seem important.
Monica’s sister available from electronic bookstores, such as Kobo, Kindle and Nook.
I give it five out of five stars.
So Earl Emerson came out with a new book, Monica’s Sister.
Monica’s Sister is the 13th book in the Thomas Black series. His wife’s friend Angela ends up dead, with most people thinking it’s a suicide. Black is hired by Angela’s sister, Monica to find out the truth. At the same time, he’s in trouble with Monica’s husband, Clark Lloyd Self and Self’s bodyguards, one of which is a monster of a man.
I loved the book. There were a couple of small points that got to me though:
1) I figured out the killer pretty early on, so I thought a swerve was coming that wouldn’t show you it was who I thought it was. But it didn’t come. So I don’t know if a lot of people figured it out, or if was just me, but with no swerve, it felt like I missing something.
2) There were a couple of times when things on pages didn’t mesh. At one point, Black was describing a woman he met, saying she had the kind of face where you couldn’t tell how old she was. Then on the next page, he said the woman was 35 years old. It didn’t go very well.
But the action was still good, and the thing about Emerson’s book is the sense of humour. It’s crazy witty, and makes me crack up quite a bit. Even Emerson brings it up, calling it “black” humour (haha… get it?).
And I thought at the end that Monica ended up with a Robin Hood complex, which was a nice touch. She thought because her husband gave to the poor, it didn’t matter if he got his money from the rich.
The book is a great read, and hard to put down. One of things I like a lot about Emerson’s writing is that there aren’t 130 chapters in each book like some authors have. It makes each chapter seem important.
Monica’s sister available from electronic bookstores, such as Kobo, Kindle and Nook.
I give it five out of five stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2013
Monica's Sister is an enigma of wily twists and blutterbunged deceptions!
I am new to the character of Thomas Black and so came to this novel with no expectations or preconceived images.
I thoroughly enjoyed the crisp, snappy, and witty style of Mr. Emerson’s delightful diction and tone. I don’t read much detective fiction, but I’ll certainly read another of the Thomas Black series!
There were some “laugh out loud” scenarios that were fresh and quite clever!
The characters, flawed as most were, emerge with lively spark in his artful, jocular repartee.
Thomas Black is in for many surprises as the twists and turns deepen the mystery of “Who done it and why?” Although I had a few flashes of the writing style of Raymond Chandler, Thomas Black is no Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. He is much lighter on his feet; not the hard-boiled snarky detective of sprawling Los Angeles.
The setting in Seattle was a treat, as I live about 50 minutes south of it and thus know many of the sights and places in the novel.
When the “wackadoodle” impression of Monica’s sister becomes apparent as to its true nature, Mr. Emerson shows us the empathic and sensitive side of Thomas Black in his sincere understanding of what her reality entailed. I think he did an excellent job in describing the personal demons that she had to deal with….I know too well the storm of this disorder, having a close family member who has gone to “OZ” and returned!
After winding up for the final pitch….he delivers a curve ball to the home plate!
Well done Mr. Emerson!!!... I sure didn’t see that one coming!
I am going to recommend that my book club read it, as it will surely provide for an animated discussion!
I am new to the character of Thomas Black and so came to this novel with no expectations or preconceived images.
I thoroughly enjoyed the crisp, snappy, and witty style of Mr. Emerson’s delightful diction and tone. I don’t read much detective fiction, but I’ll certainly read another of the Thomas Black series!
There were some “laugh out loud” scenarios that were fresh and quite clever!
The characters, flawed as most were, emerge with lively spark in his artful, jocular repartee.
Thomas Black is in for many surprises as the twists and turns deepen the mystery of “Who done it and why?” Although I had a few flashes of the writing style of Raymond Chandler, Thomas Black is no Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. He is much lighter on his feet; not the hard-boiled snarky detective of sprawling Los Angeles.
The setting in Seattle was a treat, as I live about 50 minutes south of it and thus know many of the sights and places in the novel.
When the “wackadoodle” impression of Monica’s sister becomes apparent as to its true nature, Mr. Emerson shows us the empathic and sensitive side of Thomas Black in his sincere understanding of what her reality entailed. I think he did an excellent job in describing the personal demons that she had to deal with….I know too well the storm of this disorder, having a close family member who has gone to “OZ” and returned!
After winding up for the final pitch….he delivers a curve ball to the home plate!
Well done Mr. Emerson!!!... I sure didn’t see that one coming!
I am going to recommend that my book club read it, as it will surely provide for an animated discussion!
December 25, 2017
I like Earl Emerson’s writing. Of all of his books I’ve read, I only recall that wasn’t up to par. I liked this series from the beginning. Thomas Black is the kind of Everyman hero that I enjoy reading about.
For that reason, I kept looking for the next Thomas Black book after 2009’s Cape Disappointment. I also wanted another story because that book ended on a semi-cliffhanger that implied some danger loomed ahead for Thomas and Kathy. But nothing appeared – not even a stand-alone – and I began to fear Emerson had given up on writing.
Now, after a 5 year wait, I have my hands on Monica’s Sister. But it doesn’t deal with that hinted at danger. It’s a completely separate story full of Emerson’s solid characters.
I see there’s another book in this series on the way and I hope it tackles those previously mentioned dangers, but from the synopsis, I don’t think it will. I’ll read it anyway because it’s an Earl Emerson book, and that’s a good thing.
For that reason, I kept looking for the next Thomas Black book after 2009’s Cape Disappointment. I also wanted another story because that book ended on a semi-cliffhanger that implied some danger loomed ahead for Thomas and Kathy. But nothing appeared – not even a stand-alone – and I began to fear Emerson had given up on writing.
Now, after a 5 year wait, I have my hands on Monica’s Sister. But it doesn’t deal with that hinted at danger. It’s a completely separate story full of Emerson’s solid characters.
I see there’s another book in this series on the way and I hope it tackles those previously mentioned dangers, but from the synopsis, I don’t think it will. I’ll read it anyway because it’s an Earl Emerson book, and that’s a good thing.
June 22, 2016
This book is a haunting book. It leaves you sad and mad and wishing things could be taken back. Monica's Sister is a story of the life of a good woman, with so many issues that it feels real. Monica's Sister, Angela has tasked Thomas to "finish her work". And with that Thomas is left to figure out what's truth and what's a lie. I really liked this book. It will be hard to forget. Only thing that didn't resolve for me was Angela's friend, who was in nursing care. I wanted to hear that Thomas had figured a way to let her live where she had been living, that felt like home to her. And that Thomas went back and gave her her trunk full of paper's and crayons and the stuff that she and Angela played with. Yes, haunting is the word for this book.
September 8, 2016
I should have stopped reading at #12
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews