Rat City

Jake Rossiter and Miss Jenkins #1

by Curt Colbert

Rat City's the sort of town where a man can't even be sure of a good breakfast. At least that's what detective Jake Rossiter learns when the homicide-minded Big Ed drops by Rossiter's office one morning to punch our boy's ticket. Rossiter's not one to go out easy, though, and he manages to send Big Ed to the floor with a bullet in his chest. But who is Big Ed, anyway, and why does he want Rossiter pushing up daisies? With the help of his able-bodied gal Friday, Miss Jenkins, Rossiter digs through layers of vice and violence in Seattle's seamy underbelly until he uncovers a case of corruption and prejudice that pits him toe-to-toe with hysterical dames, out-of-town muscle, and the entire Rat City Police force.

Genres: Mystery, Noir, Fiction, Historical Fiction

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Author of the Jake Rossiter and Miss Jenkins Mystery series set in 1940s Seattle.

Reviews

[Sarah Niebuhr Rubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guns blazing - that’s how this book starts. That’s not all it’s about, though. This book takes a plunge into a criminal underground set in late 1940s Seattle. It is plucky, forward thinking, and full of racial and gender biases to think forward from.

Jake Rossiter is a jolly soul, and his Girl Friday has pluck to spare. The Seattle portrayed is grungy, familiar to me — a native — in ways today’s Seattle is not. It’s not the crime, descriptions of neighborhoods, a mood, the blue collar feel that predates high-tech Seattle.

Read the book for atmosphere, for its strong, old-fashioned PI approach. Don’t read it if you can’t handle gunfire, corruption, or thriller-like mangling of humanity. The villains here are truly awful.

[Robert Herold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Hammet & Chandler? This book is for you!
Curt has done a wonderful job crafting a hard-boiled tale set in 1948 Seattle. He has carefully researched the slang and lifestyle of the era to make the world of his detective come to life. 'Great book!

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this gritty trip to Seattle in the late 1940s. Looking forward to reading more about Jake and Miss Jenkins.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Post-war Seattle is brought back to life in Curt Colbert's tales of Jake Rossiter. Rossiter drinks far too much and takes quite a few beatings, all of which leave him the worse for wear making him one of the more believable gumshoes in fiction. In many ways, Rossiter fills the stereotypical mould perfectly, but while hard-drinking and hard-bitten, as well as somewhat punch-drunk, he is still able to learn from at least a few of his mistakes. The first of far too few stories in the Jake Rossiter and Miss Jenkins series is a not too cruel look at the mean streets of 1940s Seattle, yet it's well-written and a joy to read. Three-and-a-half shots.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well-written p.i. story that takes place in Seattle in the 40's. It was an interesting mystery. I did figure out a part of it, but most of the big reveal was a surprise.

[Torquey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clunky and amateur. Time would be far better spent reading Hammett or Hiaasen.