"Emerson is carving his own special niche among a new generation of private-eye writers....He writes lean, muscular prose to carry his fast-moving action." --The Washington Post Book World A curious couple offers Seattle private eye Thomas Black a strange proposal: play guardian angel to an unlikely stalking victim named Billy Battle, a brooding ex-con with a psychotic history of unproven murder and mayhem. Hot on Billy's trail is the man who helped send him up the river, and who just may want Billy dead for his own peace of mind. It's a case that puts Black in the hospital partially paralyzed, plagued with memory loss and a monstrous sense of doom. And when menacing phone calls from a maniacally laughing stranger begin to haunt Black, he can't help but wonder if the last, wicked laugh will be on him. ( "EMERSON'S BIGGEST, DARKEST NOVEL YET, a clangorous three-alarmer that'll leave you wound tighter than Billy Battle...Hair-raising." --Kirkus Reviews "Earl Emerson writes with the richness and grace of a poet. This guy is good, and THE PORTLAND LAUGHER is the best book yet in the Thomas Black series!" --Robert Crais