Rat City's the sort of town where a man can't even be sure of a good breakfast. At least that's what detective Jake Rossiter learns when the homicide-minded Big Ed drops by Rossiter's office one morning to punch his ticket. Rossiter's not one to go out easy, though, and he manages, reluctantly, to send Big Ed to the floor with a bullet in his chest. But who is Big Ed, anyway? And why does he want Rossiter pushing up daisies?

Rat City (A Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Colbert, Curt

Mystery

Uglytown Productions

Who chopped off insurance agent Henry Jamison's head with a Samurai sword, and why? While trying to figure this out, Seattle private detective Jake Rossiter also has to deal with his recently promoted junior partner, Miss Jenkins, who is about to take on the Hashimoto family as clients for her first official case. Rossiter, an ex-marine who finished out World War II in the Pacific just a few years ago, couldn't care less about the Hashimotos -- Japanese Americans who were interned during the war and subsequently lost their Seattle dimestore in a suspicious fire. A Jap's a Jap as far as he's concerned. He tells Miss Jenkins that if she wants to waste her time trying to help a bunch of lousy Nips, fine, but she's on her own, she'll get absolutely no assistance from him. He's got more pressing business, especially considering that Eddie Valhalla, a notorious free-lance hit man, has just blown into town with his Hungarian bombshell of a gun-moll, ZaZu Pinske, who once used her seductive ways to doublecross Rossiter on Eddie's behalf. 
Meanwhile, Captain Blevins, an old nemesis from the South Precinct, takes an inordinate interest in Henry Jamison's murder. And Jamison's widow, a big, overweight woman, becomes infatuated with Rossiter. 
Then, Rossiter intercepts a death threat warning Miss Jenkins to back off the Hashimoto case, and Rossiter takes over the case to protect Miss Jenkins. But she doesn't believe he'll do enough work on it, and goes down to Chinatown to investiage, until she's ambushed and shot. Luckily, the bullet only grazes her, and Rossiter assigns one of his best operatives, Manny Velcker, to keep her out of trouble. Despite this, Miss Jenkins keeps dogging the case. 
Bodies start piling up all over the place, including the shooter who tried to rub out Miss Jenkins, and a stripper named Bubbles LaFlamme, who, our detectives learn, was cozy with Henry Jamison. It seems that the bald, milquetoast Henry was quite the ladies' man. Rossiter discovers a cache of snapshots showing the mousy little Joe with bevies of scantily clad bimbos that would make even Errol Flynn green with envy. As the clues and danger mount, Rossiter and Miss Jenkins take more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, while struggling to help the Hashimotos. Jake still doesn't like Japs, but he develops a grudging respect for Frank Hashimoto, a bitter, decorated veteran who served with the famed 442d Regimental Combat Division in Europe. 
In the end, Miss Jenkins forces a climactic confrontation at a gambling den in Seattle's Chinatown, which includes gun-play, flashing stilettos; a battle royale between the tall, tough ZaZu Pinske, and the pert, diminutive Miss Jenkins; and a tense showdown between Eddie Valhalla, Rossiter, and his old enemy, Captain Blevens. When the dust settles, the unexpected solutions to the tangled web of cases shock even a seasoned private dick like Rossiter.

Sayonaraville (Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Literature & Fiction

United States

While following up on a lead in a gay nightclub in Seattle, private investigator Jake Rossiter finds himself behind bars after a police raid and already heavily invested in a case that will introduce him to a bizarre cast of characters.

Queer Street (Jake Rossiter and Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Queer Street (Jake Rossiter And Miss Jenkins Mystery)

A hard-boiled historical detective novel set in Seattle in 1947, featuring WWII vet, Jake Rossiter, who wants to clean up the corruption in his home town, and his girl Friday, Miss Jenkins, who wants to be a P.I.

Rat City

Rat City Publishing

Brand new stories by: G. M. Ford, Skye Moody, R. Barri Flowers, Thomas P. Hopp, Patricia Harrington, Bharti Kirchner, Kathleen Alcalá, Simon Wood, Brian Thornton, Lou Kemp, Curt Colbert, Robert Lopresti, Paul S. Piper, and Stephan Magcosta. Early Seattle was a hardscrabble seaport filled with merchant sailors, longshoremen, lumberjacks, rowdy saloons, and a rough-and-tumble police force not immune to corruption and graft. By the mid-50s, the town had added Boeing to its claim to fame, but was still a mostly blue-collar burg that was infamously described as a cultural dustbin” by the Seattle Symphony’s first conductor. Present-day Seattle has become a pricey, cosmopolitan center, home to Microsoft and Starbucks. The city is famous as the birthplace of grunge music, and possesses a flourishing art, theatre, and club scene that many would have thought improbable just a few decades ago. But some things never changecrime being one of them. Seattle’s evolution to high-finance and high-tech has simply provided even greater opportunity and reward to those who might be ethically, morally, or economically challenged (crooks, in other words). But most crooks are just ordinary people, not professional thieves or crime bossesthey might be your pleasant neighbor, your wife or lover, your grocer or hairdresser, your minister or banker or lifelong friendyet even the most upright and honest of them sometimes fall to temptation. Within the stories of Seattle Noir, you will find: a wealthy couple whose marriage is filled with not-so-quiet desperation; a credit card scam that goes over-limit; femmes fatales and hommes fatales; a delicatessen owner whose case is less than kosher; a famous midget actor whose movie roles begin to shrink when he starts growing taller; an ex-cop who learns too much; a group of mystery writers whose fiction causes friction; a Native American shaman caught in a web of secrets and tribal allegiances; sex, lies, and slippery slopes . . . and a cast of characters that always want more, not less . . . unless . . . Curt Colbert is the author of the Jake Rossiter &amp; Miss Jenkins mysteries, a series of hard-boiled, private detective novels set in 1940s Seattle. The first book, Rat City, was nominated for a Shamus Award in 2001. A Seattle native, Colbert still resides in his hometown.

Seattle Noir (Akashic Noir)

Akashic Books Ltd

Who is Big Ed and why does he wanmt detective Jake Rossiter Pushing up daisies? To find out. Rossiter- with the help of his able bodied girl Friday, Miss Jenkins - digs through layers of vice and violence in Seattle's seamy underbelly, until he uncovers a case of corruption and prejudice that pits him toe to-toe with hysterical dames, out of town muscle and the entire Rat City police force.

Northwest Corner Books

Battling personal demons as he investigates the murders of members of his old platoon from Vietnam, Seattle P.I. Matt Rossiter is shaken to the core when he finally identifies and confronts the killer.

All Along the Watchtower

Epicenter Press, Incorporated

A girl named Trixie is dead. Only, this girl is a guy! When a call comes in from the infamous Garden of Allah saying their top female inpersonator has been stabed to death, the mystery is on: Who knocked off this cabaret queen? Now it's up to Rat City P. I. Jake Rossiter and smart and sexy Miss Jenkins to creck the case before the case cracks them!

Queer Street (A Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Sayonaraville (a Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Colbert, Curt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Colbert, Curt

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Colbert, Curt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Rat City (A Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Sayonaraville (Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Queer Street (Jake Rossiter and Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Queer Street (Jake Rossiter And Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Rat City

Seattle Noir (Akashic Noir)

Rat City (A Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

All Along the Watchtower

Queer Street (A Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)

Sayonaraville (a Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins Mystery)