Earl Emerson

Apart from being such a terrific writer, Earl Emerson has a unique set of skills that will turn any obvious story into a rather pretty good reading. Unlike any other fictional writer, the prose style in all of Earl Emerson books are usually well above the fluff which results into a rather hard-boiled story like the Mac Fontana series. Apart from going above the fluff, Emerson perfectly balances all of his writing which in turn brings amount moments and feelings of humor and real trepidation.

The best place to start is the Thomas Black series, the earliest of Earl Emerson's multi-book series: it opens with The Rainy City (1985) and runs to 15 books across 1985–2017, ending with Jackson Street (2017). Earl Emerson's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Earl Emerson has 27 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1979 and 2017. 20 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Thomas Black series with 15 books — and 7 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Earl Emerson's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Thomas Black (1985–2017, 15 books) and Mac Fontana (1988–1996, 5 books).

This guide splits Earl Emerson's 27 books into 2 named series and 7 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Thomas Black (15 books, 1985–2017); Mac Fontana (5 books, 1988–1996).