Seattle Noir

These short stories are a fun read for anyone who lives in or loves Seattle. The stories span multiple locations in the city and time periods. While these stories may not be as much interest to readers outside of Seattle, each story is well crafted and should delight mystery fans.

These fourteen Noir entries that focus on Seattle are all well written with most being super. The stories can be divided between historical and recent/current as the city has dramatically changed from a kick butt blue collar port city to a white collar ethnic diverse urban center which is home to giant corporations. For instance, before coffee was king, rum was king. The comparison between the fourteen contributions clearly captures that seemingly radical turn around, but in fact the short stories show the slower pace of change starting with Boeing in the 1950s. Mr. Colbert breaks the book into four segments. "Gone South" contains four tales that look deep into ethnicity. "What Comes Around" includes three entries that focus on modern day moral issues? "Love Is a Four Letter Word" has three tales pf how love can go wrong even in a perfect setting. Finally the last chapter includes four shorts that take the audience "To the Limits" that not everything is kosher. My favorites are the historical entries such as "Paper Son" by Brian Thornton who looks deep at late nineteenth century corruption and the retribution tales of the last section as we all at times want to see someone else get what is coming to them. All of the tales are fun as the city proves a perfect location as the "Center of the Universe" (by Robert Lopresti) for a Noir collection as affirmed by these consistently strong but differing contributions. Harriet Klausner

SAYONARAVILLE is the 2nd book in the Jake Rossiter and Miss Jenkins series following on from the tough hardboiled RAT CITY. Curt Colbert has created a private detective series that has the look and feel of a pulp detective novel written in the 1940s. Jake Rossiter is a hard-bitten, hard drinking private detective working in Seattle. The year is 1948, Rossiter has returned home from the war to find his town overrun by corruption and feels that it's his duty to see that the rats feeding off the honest joes get the punishment they deserve.The story opens with the rather grisly discovery of the decapitated body of Henry Jamison by Miss Jenkins. Jamison is Rossiter's insurance agent and his office adjoins Jake's. Lying on the floor near the body is a samurai sword, obviously the murder weapon.Miss Jenkins has progressed from secretary (girl Friday) to private detective and is about to take her first case. Coincidently (or perhaps not) her first client is a Japanese man named Harry Hashimoto. The fact that he is Japanese does not sit well with Rossiter at all. Remember, this is set in 1948 and Rossiter has just returned from the Pacific where he was fighting the Japanese. He insists that Miss Jenkins drop the case, which she refuses.When an attempt is made on Miss Jenkins' life, putting her in hospital, Rossiter takes over the case for her. The case seems straightforward enough. Mr Hashimoto wants tot get his business back after it was burned down and the insurance company refused to pay the claim. Huh? Hang on! Insurance company, Japanese...wasn't there some sort of link mentioned earlier? Hmmm.... Would anyone care to guess who the insurance agent might have been? These were the kinds of questions that were going through my head while reading the book, so I thought, rather than accidentally include a spoiler or two, I'd simply pose them for you too.There is a seemingly unrelated, but persistent subplot about the return to Seattle of Eddie Valhalla, a hit man who grew up in the same orphanage as Rossiter. Valhalla is Rossiter's sworn enemy nowadays and, upon hearing of his arrival in town, Rossiter sets out to settle a few old scores. The strange thing is, Rossiter seems to cross paths with Valhalla an unusually high number of times while working on the Hashimoto case. It becomes clear that somehow the presence of the hit man is going to have something to do with the case.Finally throw into the picture the crooked police force led by Captain Harvey Blevens, a man who goes out of his way to make life difficult for Rossiter. Part of the protection racket being run by the local police force includes Hashimoto's old shop. When Rossiter asks the new owners a few questions, they call their police "protectors". The fact that Blevens himself answered the call in double quick time tells Jake that he was onto something pretty big.Although Jake takes the top billing, it's the increasingly surprising Miss Jenkins who steals the show, revealing an increasingly imp

It's all here!! A riveting tale of murder, racketeering, money-laundering, corrupt cops, hit men, and strippers all told against the backdrop of the post-World War II period in Seattle's Chinatown with its dark alleys, secret passageways and secret ways. Colbert has us jump right in with the story when Rossiter is confronted by the headless body of his insurance agent. Rossiter, coolheaded as always, hopes the dead man thought to write a policy on himself. Why did Rossiter's insurance agent lose his head (literally) to a rusted samurai sword? Why would anyone kill his insurance agent, especially one who is bald, middle-aged, and kindly? The lingering bitterness of the war feeds the suspicions of Rossiter, private eye and veteran of the war in the Pacific. He wants nothing to do with the Harry Hashimoto case taken by Miss Jenkins, now his junior partner. She can sink or swim on her own. Rossiter has a more important case to solve. In this world you can't afford to lose your insurance agent. Tension builds when Rossiter butts heads with his old nemesis, hit man Eddie Valhalla and his gun moll, Zazu. Speaking of heads, just how many more hits to the head can Rossiter take? Between shady cops and shifting antagonists, maybe he should take to wearing a helmet. When Harry Hashimoto's brother, Frank, an embittered, decorated war hero of the famed all-Nisei 442nd Regiment, takes the bullets intended for Rossiter, saving the life of the private eye, Rossiter feels his own prejudices slip away. Armchair sleuths will have a field day with this one. Sayonaraville is a must-read book and a real page-turner. Makes a great gift for mystery-lovers!

Curt Colbert displays a very unique writing style. Even though his principle character, Jake Rossiter often speaks with short cliches - he thinks vividly with a much higher language. It is apparent that Jake is a highly self-educated man but is more comfortable while dealing with people in the language of his youth.Sayonaraville is an outstanding tale that transcends the story line. It displays a softness in Rossiter's character that was not evident in "Rat City". Jake Rossiter has grown. He even manages to put aside the prejudice developed while fighting in the Pacific at the end.One has to wonder about the influence on him from Miss Jenkins. Curt Colbert teases us with a developing relationship between Miss Jenkins and Jake. She has gone from his girl "Friday" to his partner. And was that just a hint of jealosy that I detected when other men paid attention to her? It will be very interesting to see where this relationship is going to go. In her own way, Miss Jenkins is every bit as tough as Jake.Sayonaraville is an excellent novel in its own right and it is more than just adequate in backing up Curt's Shamus award nominee "Rat City". I am already waiting to see where Curt takes me next. Curt - don't make me wait so long for your next installment. I need more - now!Donald D. Thompson