Friday Forgotten Book: BLACK HEARTS AND SLOW DANCING (1988) by Earl Emerson

This review is my entry in Friday's Forgotten Books meme hosted by Patti at Pattinase blog. Shamus Award winning author Earl Emerson was a Seattle firefighter for 32 years so when he writes about fires, he knows whereof he speaks. His day job added a rich verisimilitude to his writing, you knew if the plots concerned fire in any way (and they often do), all the gritty details would be right. Besides that, Emerson has a fine sure hand with a plot and a gift for inventive characterization and smart-guy dialogue. Often labeled a 'regional' author, because he lives in and writes books set in the Pacific Northwest, Emerson is not, perhaps, as well known here in the east as he should be. I discovered him a few years ago and have been a fan ever since.

BLACK HEARTS AND SLOW DANCING is the first book in the Mac Fontana series. (Did I mention that Emerson also has a gift for unique titles? One of my other favorites, HELP WANTED: ORPHANS PREFERRED. Here's a link to a quick list of all of Earl Emerson's books at fantastic fiction.

Staircase, Washington, a small town at the base of the Cascade Mountains is Sheriff and ex-firefighter MacKinley Fontana's current neck of the woods. A 'live and let live' kind of guy, he's happy enough there, sorting out his life and raising his son Brandon. Now that he's found a dead body lashed to a tree, though, Mo Costigan, the major, is having second thoughts about having appointed Mac to the interim job.. It's not as though he were the 'real' sheriff. But Mac is no pushover. Just see the way he handles Satan, the ex-sheriff's intractable German Shepherd.

The dead man turns out to have been a firefighter and Mac, an ex Seattle firefighter himself, wants to find out why he was killed - beaten to death. Against the mayor's wishes, he heads up to Seattle to nose around - Mac has a nose for greed and corruption. In doing so he winds up opening old wounds and making himself a few more enemies.

Mac's been trying to settle into 'normal' after some hard time doings involving his firefighting past and a mysterious job out east in that 'other world' he doesn't like to think about. But someone in Staircase doesn't like the way Mac's investigation into the fire fighter's death is going. He's shot at and left for dead, then when the town's biggest church goes up in flames, Mac discovers a booby trap and it's up to him to deal with it. Life in a small town is not going exactly the way he envisioned it.

Mac Fontana is a hard-driven guy with a twisted sense of humor and a fondness for the relative quiet of the countryside. But it's going to take him a while to get into the slower, easier rhythm. (Church fires not withstanding.) In the meantime, he's raising his boy and doing the best he can. The writing in the scenes with his son is especially appealing. Emerson can write those so naturally, yet when Mac is dealing with some ugly, nasty sorts, Emerson writes those scenes equally well. There's nothing forced here, just a kind of fluid writing ability I like. I think this stems from having well-rounded characterization - Mac's interactions arise from who he is.

Last but not least, I love that Mac Fontana, bad as he wants to be, loves to slow dance at the local weekly dances. There he and the Mayor, Maureen known as 'Mo' forget their antagonism and work out some smooth moves.

Mac Fontana, a man of many talents.

Earl Emerson, author of many talents.