The lusty librarian
Looking for a good book that's set in Seattle? Naturally, Nancy Pearl has a few recommendations.
All Powers Necessary and Convenient (University of Washington Press, 2000; $17), by Mark F. Jenkins. This highly readable play explores the chilling effects of the McCarthy era on several UW professors.
Fat Tuesday (Ballantine Books, 1988; $6.99), Into the Inferno (Ballantine Books, 2003; $24), The Rainy City (Ballantine Books, 1997; $6.99), and other novels in the Thomas Black detective series, by Earl Emerson, a Seattle firefighter.
First Avenue (Onyx, 2000; $6.99) and Second Watch (Signet, 2003; $6.99), by Lowen Clausen. Follow the exploits of Seattle cop Sam Wright in these potboilers.
Long for this World (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003; $24), by Michael Byers. The novel delves into the ethical dilemmas of a Seattle doctor during the get-rich-quick 1990s.
The Strangeness of Beauty (Simon & Schuster, 1999; $23), by Lydia Minatoya. This novel paints a vivid picture of life in an ethnic Seattle neighborhood in the 1920s and '30s.
Waxwings (Pantheon Books, 2003; $24), by Jonathan Raban. Another novel set in dot-com-era Seattle, this time told from the viewpoints of recent immigrants.
