Book Spotlight: Ragged in the Rain by Brian Anderson

About Author Brian Anderson…

Brian Anderson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, whose Dinkytown neighborhood serves as the setting for his mystery series featuring private investigator Lyle Dahms. The Dahms novels spring from his lifelong love of mystery fiction, especially the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, as well as more contemporary masters like Robert B. Parker and G. M. Ford. He is a three-time finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association mystery and suspense contest, and his debut novel, The Shiver in Her Eyes, was a finalist in their Nancy Pearl Contest for published fiction.

In 2024, he released his standalone novel Yule Tide, featuring a fallen angel turned private investigator who fights to wrest Christmas from the dark forces that have taken control and twisted it to their evil ends.

Brian spent much of his professional career working to alleviate domestic hunger, serving as the operations director of the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County, as well as the manager of the Pike Market Food Bank in downtown Seattle. Married with three beautiful daughters and one perfect granddaughter, he now lives and writes in Ocean Shores, a small city on the Washington coast.

This is a spotlight on “Ragged in the Rain” by Brian Anderson

Ragged in the Rain Blurb

When his best friend’s sister vanishes with a man known for his drug
habit, Minneapolis private investigator Lyle Dahms heads to Seattle to
bring her home. But the city he finds is nothing like the
postcards—its rain-soaked streets hide a growing homelessness
crisis, predatory dealers, and police who don’t want an outsider
stirring up trouble.

Searching for the missing woman, Dahms leans on unlikely allies: an
elderly Filipino food bank volunteer with sharp instincts and a
handful of strangers whose loyalties shift like the weather. Each lead
pulls him deeper into a world ruled by desperation, where trust is
scarce, and danger waits around every corner.

Far from home and increasingly out of his depth, Dahms must decide how
much he’s willing to risk to keep a promise. Because the truth
behind the young woman’s disappearance is darker than he
imagined—and finding her may cost him far more than he came to give.

What Readers can expect from Ragged in the Rain

Ragged in the Rain is the fifth novel in the Lyle Dahms series. It is a hard-boiled PI novel with lots of suspense leavened by the author’s trademarked humor. The underlying theme explores the question of�what home is, what happens when we lose it, and what it takes to find home somewhere new.

***Ragged in the Rain*Purchase Links**

**An excerpt from Ragged in the Rain…**

It was a pleasant walk down sunlit sidewalks that bristled with activity. Business types walking hurriedly, shoppers strolling, and homeless folks pressed into doorways or standing together in small clumps on the corners. I’d weaved my way to the Seattle Art Museum and was nearly to the tony Four Seasons Hotel when I spotted a guy a block and a half ahead walking quickly in my direction. He was evidently taking advantage of the break in the weather because although the rest of us wore jackets, he wore only a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He was about thirty with a deeply lined face that glowed with a ruddy tan. But upon further scrutiny, I realized that it wasn’t just his tan that glowed. It was anger. It emanated before him like a sonar wave. He strode with purpose, eyes fixed forward, brushing hurriedly past other pedestrians. When he reached one poor soul—a tourist carrying a “Simply Seattle” shopping bag—he lurched into him, ramming a shoulder against the unwary shopper, pitching him off balance. Angry Guy barely broke stride but did turn his head slightly as he passed to glower at the dumbfounded tourist.

Watching, I felt a spark flare deep within me.

There are a number of drugs that tend to induce rage. Cocaine, meth, spice—a synthetic marijuana—and bath salts, a stimulant that resembles but should not be confused with Epsom salts, the stress-reducing tub soak product beloved by the lavender industry. This guy was clearly on something.

There were two ways to play this, I thought. Move discreetly out of his way or plant myself like the great block of flesh that I am and watch him bounce off. Discreet isn’t something I’m particularly good at. My Mom always taught me that only a small man lets his anger drive his behavior. On the other hand, my ex-cop father taught me to deal with conflict directly. “Hit ’em first, hit ’em hard, then hit ’em again,” he’d say.