Friday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Book: FREE FALL (1993) by Robert Crais

Jennifer Sheridan, the young and impressionable, innocent and plucky heroine of Robert Crais' fourth Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel is just the kind of girl that Elvis was born to protect. After all Elvis is the ultimate self-confessed, knight-in-shining armor in the guise of a Los Angeles-based private eye -  someone to turn to when your life begins to go down the tubes. He is the original gun-carrying, bone-crushing, boy-scout; a self-admitted Peter Pan who, for a two thousand dollar advance, will come to your rescue with a quip and an elbow to the gut. He is (in his own words) 'the world's greatest detective." Or at least, that's how he answers his phone. World's Greatest to the rescue.

If you can read this book and NOT fall in love with Elvis, then, well, you are beyond mortal help.

Back to the story: Jennifer Sheridan is sure that her fiance Mark Thurman is in some sort of deep trouble but since he won't talk to her about it, she can't help him. She wants to help him. She loves him. He lover her - that will never change. No matter what. Her earnestness is infectious.

"On the phone you said something about your boyfriend."

"My fiance. I think he's mixed up in some kind of criminal thing. I've asked him, and he denies it, but I know that something going on. I think he's scared, and that worries me. My fiance is not scared of very much."

I nodded again and tucked that away. Fearless Fiance. "Okay. What kind of crime are we talking about.?"

"I don't know."

"Is he stealing cars?"

"I don't think so."

"Is he embezzling?"

"No. It wouldn't be that."

"How about fraud?"

She shook her head.

"We're running out of choices, Ms. Sheridan."

.....I took out a yellow legal pad, a black SenseMatic pencil, and made as if I were poised to copy the rush of information she was about to provide. I drew a couple of practice marks on the page. Subliminal prompting. "I'm ready. Fire away."

She swallowed.

"Anytime."

She stared at the floor.

I put the pad on the desk and the pencil on the pad. I put my fingertips together and looked at Jennifer Sheridan through the steeple, and then I looked at the Pinocchio clock that I've got on my wall. It has eyes that swing from side to side as it tocks, and it's always smiling. Happiness is contagious. It was twelve twenty-two, and if I could get down to the deli fast enough, the turkey would still be moist and the baguette would still be edible. I said, "Maybe you should go to the police, Ms. Sheridan. I don't think I can help you."

She clutched the purse even tighter and gave me miserable. "I can't do that."

I spread my hands and stood up. "If your fiance is in danger, it is better to get in trouble with the police than it is to be hurt or killed....Try the police, Ms. Sheridan. The police can help you."

"I can't do that, Mr. Cole." The misery turned into fear. "My fiance is the police."

"Oh." Now it was my turn. I sat down.

So begins this very tricky case.

Turns out Mark is a 'special forces' L.A. cop and cops have 'codes' they live by - Jennifer understands that. But Mark has NEVER kept anything from her before. Jennifer is worried. She wants to hire Elvis to find out what's going on.

Elvis isn't crazy about the idea of checking into a cop's private life - they don't usually like that.

Sure enough, almost as soon as Jennifer  Sheridan has left his office, Mark Thurman and his quarrelsome drunken lout of a partner, Floyd Riggins show up, with attitude. (Obviously they had been waiting and watching outside.) The meeting doesn't go well. Floyd is a pain in the ass from the get-go. Mark calms him down and explains to Elvis that the 'trouble' Jennifer senses is of a 'personal' nature and Elvis needs to give him [Mark] time to set things right.  It's personal, he insists. Okay, sounds reasonable.

So Elvis has another go at disentangling himself from what has the appearance of turning into a very messy business. He meets Jennifer for lunch near her office, to let her down gently.

What follows is a very funny restaurant scene when Jennifer refuses to let Elvis off the hook. Every time I read this book I can't wait to get to this moment. And every single time I laugh out loud. It's one of those perfectly paced sequences RC is famous for. Elvis is such a sucker for a dame in distress. Especially for a dame who won't stop crying in a crowded restaurant with diners nearby ready to spring to her aid.

AND before you get the idea that this is all fun and games, please think again. It's just that life is occasionally funny (it would have to be for us to stand the rest of it) and Robert Crais makes the most of it. This is one of the things I love best about his writing.

The plot of FREE FALL swirls around L.A. racial troubles, wayward cops and gang violence. But somehow, RC makes it all work together in a new way. (The book is over twenty years old but the same type of troubles, unfortunately, are still pretty much on-going.)

Once he finally accepts the case Elvis finds himself up against a rogue unit of the fearsome L.A. police. Within days, calling on his partner, the enigmatic, taciturn, sunglasses-wearing man of few words, Joe Pike, seems like a good idea. Pike is a man of, shall we say, 'reputation.' Everyone treads carefully around Pike, an ex-cop who doesn't suffer fools lightly and is afraid of no one.

The first phone call between Elvis and Joe:

I used the payphone there to dial a gun shop in Culver City, and man's voice answered on the second ring. "Pike."

"It's me. I'm standing in a 7-Eleven parking lot on San Pedro about three blocks south of Martin Luther King Boulevard. I'm with a black guy in his early twenties named James Edward Washington. A white guy and a Hispanic guy in a dark blue 1989 sedan are following us. I think they've been following me for the past two days."

"Shoot them." Life is simple for some of us.

"I was thinking more that you could follow them as they follow me and we could find out who they are."

Pike didn't say anything.

"Also, I think they're cops."

Pike grunted. "Where you headed?"

"A place called Ray's Gym. In South Central."

Pike grunted again. "I know Ray's. Are you in immediate danger?"

I looked around. "Well, I could probably get hit by a meteor."

Pike said, "Go to Ray's. You won't see me, but I'll be there when you come out."
Then he hung up. Some partner, huh?

These books are not comedies, not cozies, not anything but great private eye stories with their fair share of action and violence, but that not especially overdone. The duo's sense of justice and the rightness of things is especially acute and I like that no matter how difficult the situation, there is never any idea that Elvis and Pike won't do the right thing.

From the moment Pike comes on board, he and Elvis will take on the whole LA Police force AND a bunch of heavily armed lethal gang bangers. As the violence escalates, they find themselves on the other side of the law, (my favorite part of the book), on the run from desperate bad cops, misinformed good cops and a bunch of murderous punks - ugly, nasty dudes who will stop at nothing, to hang onto their turf. It is especially satisfying to read about bad cops getting their comeuppance but it is also especially disturbing reading about cops who have compromised their souls and in the process lost themselves.

But despite the constant sense of danger, there are still moments of pure delight as the relationship between Elvis and Joe is always a joy to read about. These books are basically at their heart all about the strength of their friendship - how Elvis and Joe react to the world around them. A world that isn't  easy. A world in which each man relies completely on the other. There's never any question in my mind that Joe would die for Elvis and vice versa. Though not related, they are brothers. I love that about these books. There are certain 'absolutes' that I enjoy reading about - Elvis and Joe's friendship is one of them. 

Robert Crais loves the city of Los Angeles and knows it like he knows the back of his hand. This comes across in his books as the setting is an integral part of each story. I don't know L.A. at all, but somehow, sometimes, reading R.C., I feel as if I do.

This is a series that should probably be read in order. (Always remembering that Joe and Elvis grow richer and stronger in tone and depth of character as the series goes on almost as if Robert Crais didn't actually realize what he'd created until the series took deeper hold of his imagination.)

My favorites going in:

THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT 

LULLABY TOWN
FREE FALL

VOODOO RIVER

INDIGO SLAM

L.A. REQUIEM

I recommend reading at least two of these BEFORE you read L.A. REQUIEM which is, to my mind, a genre masterpiece. REQUIEM is very much enhanced if you already know the depth of Elvis and Joe's friendship and Elvis's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier whom he met in VOODOO RIVER. After that, as you please. It's difficult to go wrong with Robert Crais at the helm. Sequence is not absolutely necessary, after all I began with VOODOO RIVER and then worked my way around the series. Not every book is a keeper, but those that are will remain in my library (to be read and reread) forever.

There are also some quite wonderful books written later on from the point of view of Joe Pike - not to be missed.

Since this is Friday once again (funny how that works) it's time to check in at author Patricia Abbott's blog Pattinase, to see what other forgotten or overlooked books other writers are talking about today.

Friday Forgotten or Overlooked Books: LULLABY TOWN (1992) by Robert Crais

This is my entry in the Friday Forgotten or Overlooked Books Weekly Meme hosted by Patti over at her blog, PATTINASE. Don't forget to check out the other bloggers' Forgotten Books choices. There are always several intriguing titles in the mix. Link here.

LULLABY TOWN was the fourth in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series by the irrepressible Robert Crais, thriller writer extraordinaire. The books are normally set in Los Angeles and this one begins there, but then takes Elvis and Joe east to a new clime combo: NY and the Connecticut countryside.

When Elvis Cole is called in to track down Karen Shipley, the long lost ex-wife and son by the latest Hollywood phenom director, Peter Alan Nelsen (based loosely on a Steven Spielberg type), he  is leery at first. Nelsen is the kind of Hollywood local Elvis usually avoids; a man/child with over-the-top power and money and no emotional restraints - a 'Peter Pan' run amok. The first time Elvis meets Nelsen at the studio, the director is literally having a temper tantrum atop a table in his office. Uh-oh.

But, after all, Elvis is the 'world's greatest detective', at least by his own estimation, so he takes the case anyway. What he doesn't foresee is that he and Joe will eventually have to come up against a very deadly NY crime family. Things are different in New York.

I called Joe Pike at seven-thirty that night, L.A. time.

"It's me. I'm in New York on this thing, and it's heating up. Looks like the Mafia is involved."

"Rollie George."

"You got his number?"

Pike gave me a phone number. "Where are you staying?"

I told him.

"Wait ten, then call Rollie. Try to survive until I get there."

He hung up. That Pike. Some partner, huh?

Part of the fun of the book is seeing how Elvis and then, Joe, survive on the tough streets of the city and in the Connecticut suburbs as they search for Karen Shipley (now Lloyd) and her son by Nelsen when he was then just another drop-out film student.

Finding Karen is no big deal for the relentless Elvis, but the case is complicated by the fact that Karen has gotten herself improbably involved in a Mafia scheme from which she cannot break free AND she no longer wants to have anything to do with Peter Alan Nelsen or his new found fame and fortune. She is not impressed that after years of ignoring him, Peter has suddenly decided he wants to be a father to their son Toby.

Events are made even more complex when Peter Alan Nelsen, tired of waiting in Los Angeles, shows up in Connecticut with his entourage thinking his fame carries weight anywhere he goes, thinking he can buy off anyone who gets in his way, including the Mafia. Uh-oh.

This is another very well done yet less well-known early entry in the continuing saga of friendship between two men, which to my mind is the basis of the entire series. The strength of that friendship is the glue that holds it all together.

A couple of things I love most about LULLABY TOWN:

One - The usual banter between Elvis and Joe and Elvis and everyone else. The scene when Joe shows up out of the blue and in the nick of time in a Manhattan back alley just as Elvis is cornered by some Mafia hoods and Elvis's reaction is the very cool, "What kept you?" - is worth the price of the book alone. If you're not wide-eyed and grinning at the end of this scene, put the book down, it's not for you.

Two - I like the secondary storyline which is basically about a man forced to grow up in a hurry. About how tragedy, caused mostly by a total lack of understanding how the 'real' world works, changes a character forever. Elvis and Joe, in cohort, are shown to be examples of  how 'real' men, competent men, behave in crisis. Extreme dramatic crisis, it's true, but Crais uses the guise of a mystery/thriller to get the point across. It's a good point to make any time.

Something else: There are two concurrent 'parenting' story lines going on in LULLABY TOWN, you pick up the dichotomy of it as you go along. A bit of 'sins of the father' type influence. One kid who is saved at an impressionable age, one man who was not. One kid who matures almost too late, one who never does. But maybe I'm stretching the point. For me, this was evident beneath the surface.

There is also my very favorite action sequence in almost any book EVER, near the end of LULLABY TOWN. When all appears to be over, happy ending in sight, and suddenly it isn't. When the bad guys show up unexpectedly in the middle of a quiet Connecticut evening, intent on murder. When Elvis and Joe must not only stand up to overwhelming force to save themselves, but also to save the lives of a man, a woman and their child. I re-read this sequence occasionally just to remind myself what terrific, spell-binding, pulse-pounding, thriller writing is all about.

When it comes to this sort of thing, there is absolutely no one better than Robert Crais.

Here, by the way, is a link to an interview done recently with R.C. for Venice, a California magazine.

Robert Crais

Sunday Salon: More About Author Robert Crais

Pardon me while I gush: As you may know, Robert Crais is one my favorite authors. His Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series of mystery/thrillers are my numero uno favorito, leading Lee Child's Jack Reacher books by a couple of hairs. I've read all of R.C.'s books and enthused about them all over the known world, or at least wherever I'm allowed to enthuse to my heart's content. I was never a big thriller reader until I happened onto R.C.'s books one fortunate day in the middle of Barnes and Noble. The rest, as they say, is history.

So when I saw this fabulous interview (with a bit of video) conducted with R.C. this month in England - while on his annual book tour, this time promoting his latest best seller, THE SENTRY, I had to pass it along to you. Don't miss it.

Link to Shots Online E-Zine Interview with Robert Crais.

And the link to my review of THE SENTRY, done a couple of weeks ago. (In case you missed it.)

Monday Book Review: THE SENTRY by Robert Crais

When I read a terrific book I can't wait to tell everyone about it. (I waited on this one though 'cause I finished it last week and wanted to save it for my review today. But it was hard.) As I've mentioned before, Robert Crais is one of the very best writers working today. His Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books are my favorite modern detective series. There are few writers who can

match R.C.'s talent for quick characterization, breathless plotting and for making the men in his books more than one dimensional killing machines.

R.C. laid the groundwork for Cole and Pike's relationship years ago with books set mostly in L.A. and written in the first person from Elvis Cole's often jaunty point of view. Where R.C.'s series excels is in the book-to-book's unwavering devotion to that friendship. Part of my expectation as a reader of this series is to be reassured by the continuation and strength of Elvis and Joe. It is the hub around which all of these stories turn.

When the vegetables were good to go, Cole went upstairs, changed into a T-shirt, then returned to the deck to fire up his Weber. The sky was a beautiful sangria by then, and inspired him to have another beer.

When Cole went in, Joe Pike was in the kitchen. Unannounced and silent as a ghost. The cat was twined between his ankles, purring. Pike was the only person besides Cole the cat would abide.

"White bean salad with grilled veggies we can share. Maybe a little couscous. Carne asada for me. Sound good?"

"Good."

Sure.

Notice how the loyal friend prepares his subject for the evening's festivities.

"I'm having a beer. Get one, then you can fill me in while I'm prepping the coals."

Pike took a beer from the fridge. Cole grabbed a third, and followed him out. The cat trailed behind them. He liked to watch the slope for field mice and gophers.

Cole pushed at the coals, which was a completely unnecessary act. Notice the immaculate technique as the World's Greatest Best Friend stalls the moment of truth.....

Later, that evening, when Elvis is forced to reveal some unpalatable truths to Joe:

...Pike remained motionless, floating at the edge of the deck. Cole wished he could see behind the black glasses, but that view was hidden.

....His phone rang. Cole wasn't going to answer, but decided to give Pike some time. He covered the grill then inside for the phone.

.....When Cole put down the phone, he went back to the deck. He wanted to share the one piece of good news he'd gotten that day, but when he stepped outside Joe Pike was gone.

"Joe?"

The cat was gone too.

"Joseph?"

The canyon swallowed his voice.

I think a great part of what R.C. is writing about is this idea of the bond of friendship and what it means, how it develops. How friendship itself becomes a stabilizing force. Without giving anything away, I can say that the very satisfactory ending of THE SENTRY continues to perpetuate that ideal.

The latest books, begun with THE WATCHMAN (2007), are being told from Joe Pike's point of view but not in the first person. Joe Pike is not a 'first person' kind of guy. A solitary man of secrets, Joe is one of the most centered individuals you will ever meet. He is a warrior honed by years of work, first as an L.A. cop then as a mercenary/soldier of fortune. He lives in L.A. and operates a gun shop. He is enigmatic with a capital E, wears sunglasses day and night and has red arrows tattooed on his deltoids. The arrows point forward, always forward - Pike's philosophy of life. He is the coolest dude you will ever meet. But don't tell him I told you that.

In this series of books, we learn a bit more about what Pike thinks of Joe. For instance:

When in THE SENTRY, Joe mentions that Cole is one of those men who thinks he 's funny, you have to laugh. This is so exactly right on the money. If you've read the earlier books you know this already, so the laugh is one of recognition. But it's said in such a bald-faced way, as fact, Joe's not kidding. That's what makes it even funnier, for me.

The Joe Pike books are each written in the dark form of R.C.'s grim classic L.A. REQUIEM. They feature nasty sorts and some pretty ugly violence that sometimes appears to spin out of control. Why these books work, why they are not just run-of-the-mill thriller-dillers is simply because at the heart of these books there is Joe Pike and Elvis Cole.

If not for Elvis and his influence, Joe would likely be dead by now or close enough as makes no difference. Though Elvis is more adaptable, the same thing probably applies to him.

In THE SENTRY, fate takes a hand: Joe Pike stops his red Cherokee jeep (not new but kept looking new by Pike's penchant for keeping everything just so) for air at a Mobil station and from that moment, events take on a life of their own. Joe is the noticing sort, it's what's kept him alive for years. Well, that and the pure fact that he's totally fearless and competent at what he does.

He notices two Latino guys skulking up the block across from the gas station, and decides to take a look and see what they're up to. Just a look. Afterwards he thinks back to that moment and wonders what would have happened if he'd looked the other way, pretended not to notice or minded his own business. But that's not Joe.

The events unfolding inside the takeout shop had happened quickly. When he reached the door, the two men had an older man on the floor, one punching the man's head, the other kicking his back. The man had rolled into a ball, trying to protect himself.

The two hitters hesitated when Pike opened the door, both of them sucking air like surfacing whales. Pike saw their hands were empty, though someone else might have been behind the counter or in the back room...

"You wan' this, bitch? Get outta here."

Pike didn't get out. He stepped inside and closed the door.

Pike saw a flick of surprise in the kicker's eyes, and the puncher hesitated again. They had expected him to run, one man against two, but Pike did not run.

The victim - the man on the floor - still curled into a ball, mumbled - "I'm okay. Jesus - "

- even as the kicker puffed himself larger. He raised his fists and stomped toward Pike, a street brawler high on his own violence, trying to frighten Pike away.

Pike moved forward fast, and the surprised kicker pulled up short, caught off guard by Pike's advance. Then Pike dropped low and accelerated, as smoothly as water flows over rocks. He trapped the man's arm, rolled it backward, and brought the man down hard, snapping the radius bone and dislocating the ulna. He hit the man one time in the Adam's apple with the edge of his hand, the water now swirling off rocks as he rose to face the puncher, only the puncher had seen enough. He scrambled backward across the counter, and bounced off the wall as he ran out a back door.

The kicker gakked like a cat with a hair ball as he tried to breathe and scream at the same time. Pike dropped to a knee, watching the back door as he checked the man for a weapon. He found a nine-millimeter pistol, then left the downed man long enough to make sure no one was behind the counter or in the back room. He returned to the kicker, rolled him onto his belly, then stripped the man's belt to bind his wrists. The man shrieked when Pike twisted the injured arm behind his back, and tried to get up, but Pike racked his face into the floor.

Pike said, "Stop."

Pike had neutralized the assailant and secured the premises in less than six seconds.

Five years before Joe Pike gets involved, Dru Rayne and her uncle fled New Orleans just ahead of Hurricane Katrina. They were on the run from as mercilessly vile a killer as has ever been created. A killer who never gives up, who five years later is still hunting, still on their trail.

After Joe Pike crosses the street from the gas station and steps in to save Dru's uncle from a savage beating by a couple of L.A. gangbangers, he is immediately taken by Dru's attractive guilelessness. There's something about Dru that penetrates Joe's defenses. There's also something about the uncle's behavior that doesn't add up. Joe decides to get more involved even as their initial story begins to unravel. They are in desperate danger, that much Joe knows. Sometimes that's all he needs to know.

In the course of this story, a couple of old friends, characters from previous books make their appearance. John Chen is back. (It's always good to have an 'in' at the L.A. Medical Examiner's office.) So is Lucy Chenier, Louisiana lawyer and one time girlfriend of Elvis Cole. She's back, to help, at least on the phone.

This is the sort of story in which very few things are as they seem and betrayal is commonplace. We get three points of view: that of Joe Pike, that of the killer and that of Elvis Cole, once he's called in. (I'm not fond of killer points of view, but R.C. makes it tolerable.)

I've rarely seen Joe Pike this vulnerable, this unsure of what the truth is. For Joe things are absolute, either black or white. It's hard to read about him floundering a bit in the murky gray.

As you can tell, I am very fond of these characters, this happens sometimes when you've read every book in a series (most of them more than once) from the very beginning and know the characters inside and out. It's hard on an author too, when his readers expect (demand) so much with each book. When a reader has a lot of affection invested in certain characters they don't want certain things to happen and of course, they're always hoping that what they do want to happen will happen. It's not easy being a writer. It's not easy being a fan. Where there's great story-telling and writing, affection and emotion involved, it becomes a kind of symbiotic relationship. A mutual pact.

Very rarely does R.C. let me down. That's one of the reasons I love these books.

For a quick look at all the titles in the Elvis and Joe series, please check here

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: Letter C

Today for my Crime Fiction Alphabet - Letter C, I want to talk about one of my all time favorite writers, Robert Crais. I first discovered him a few years ago purely by accident while walking the aisles of Barnes and Noble. I picked up VOODOO RIVER, read one page and the rest, as they say, is history.

I've since been fortunate enough to meet Robert Crais at a book signing. He sent me the kindest and cheeriest message when he knew I'd be starting my chemo. He is a lamb.

And have you seen his pix on the back bookcovers? (See above for a sample.) Yes, I know, I'm an old lady. But you're never too old to look. The thing is, as dreamy as he is on the outside, he's just as dreamy on the inside. It also doesn't hurt that he's a brilliant writer.

He is the creator of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books. A series I love to read and reread. But a series that, really (at least for the first few books), is perhaps, best read in order even though I didn't begin that way. But then, I don't mind jumping back and forth. If you do, then begin at the beginning with THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT.

It's helpful to read the first few books in order so that you begin to understand that though the books are noir-ish, free-wheeling thrillers set in L.A. featuring a private eye named Elvis Cole and his enigmatic friend, ex-mercenary Joe Pike, they are more about that friendship than they are about anything else. That's what makes the books a stand-out in an over-crowded field. It's the depth of the friendship that makes me care for these two characters, makes me want to be in their company. Oh, and Elvis's sense of humor too, of course. He's such a weisenheimer.

These two men are each one half of a whole, at least, that's how I see them. Each would die for the other without any questions asked. Their mutual affection is based on complete trust. They believe in each other's expertise, competence and nature. I've always said Elvis and Joe are as close as two men can get without having sex. They are both very much heterosexual. But it's lovely to see two men be such close friends. For me, that is the magic charm of this series.

The books are not comedies, not cozies, not anything but great private eye stories with lots of action and often, ugly violence, set in a world that Elvis and Joe must often fight their way into and fight their way out of to set things right. Joe's sense of justice and the rightness of all things is especially acute. But both men are so richly created, so perfectly in tune, so well written. Can you tell I love these books? I do.

Beginning two books ago, R.C. started writing from Joe Pike's point of view, he's added new life to the series. Beginning with THE WATCHMAN, then with THE FOURTH RULE and now with THE SENTRY, which, thanks to Janine I now own a copy of, inscribed to me. I treasure R.C.'s inscriptions. He is a hoot.

These are the books featuring Elvis and Joe from the beginning:

THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT

STALKING THE ANGEL

LULLABY TOWN

FREE FALL

VOODOO RIVER

SUNSET EXPRESS

INDIGO SLAM

L.A. REQUIEM

THE LAST DETECTIVE

THE FORGOTTEN MAN

From Joe's point of view:

THE WATCHMAN

THE FIRST RULE
THE SENTRY

My favorites:(Only if I HAD to choose.)

THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT

LULLABY LAND

FREE FALL

VOODOO RIVER

INDIGO SLAM

L.A. REQUIEM

THE FORGOTTEN MAN

THE WATCHMAN

THE FIRST RULE

Haven't read THE SENTRY yet. But already I'm prejudiced in its favor.

Four Books I Must Read or Curl Up and Die

Ha! Just kidding. (I think.) But these are the four newly released books I am most anxious to read just as soon as I can. If only the people ahead of me on the library list would hurry up and finish their copies, all would be well. In the meantime, I content myself reading other smasheroo books, i.e. KRAKEN by China Mieville, which I am liking very much and which was part of my Santa Christmas loot.

THE SENTRY by Robert Crais. I am always ready to read any Robert Crais book, but most especially his series featuring L.A. private detective Elvis Cole and his enigmatic friend, Joe Pike. THE SENTRY is the third in the Joe Pike series begun with THE WATCHMAN, extended with last year's superb THE FIRST RULE and now I hear THE SENTRY is equally superb. The original series from Elvis Cole's point of view began way back when with THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT. (A series that should be read in order, most especially in the begining up until L.A. Requiem.) Read more about Robert Crais tomorrow when I write my Letter C post for the Crime Fiction Alphabet Challenge 2011.

FADEAWAY GIRL by Martha Grimes. I've read every DCI Richard Jury mystery, Grimes has written and mostly loved them all. It's a shame that the prolific Martha Grimes is so underrated and often forgotten about when bloggers mention great mystery writers. She deserves better, an amazing writer. FADEAWAY GIRL is the latest in the quirky series featuring 12 year old Emma Graham, the sequel to Belle Ruin.Though I don't see how anything can top COLD FLAT JUNCTION, one of my very favorite books. Somehow Martha Grimes has managed to give this series a kind of gothic quality though it's set in the American west of dry desert country and small underpopulated towns. The cast of characters is quirky, to say the least.

A RED HERRING WITHOUT MUSTARD by Alan Bradley. The third in Bradley's wonderful series ALSO featuring a 12 year old protagonist. The series is set in the English countryside of the 1950's and Bradley captures the bleak post war ambiance perfectly. The heroine, Flavia De Luce is a lonely young girl, a prodigy mostly ignored by her family and left on her own to invent, experiment with chemicals (there's a convenient laboratory on the upper floor of the family house) and otherwise keep herself busy. Which she does, often getting in the way of a murder investigation. The first book THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE won just about every award for a debut novel. The second book THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG was even better.

ONE WAS A SOLDIER by Julia Spencer-Fleming. This is the 7th in the Clare Fergusson series set in a small upstate New York town in which it always seems to be winter. All I can say is I've loved this series since the first book, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER and not a single book following that initial award winning debut has let me down. Clare Fergusson is such a unique protagonist, she is a minister and an army veteran helicopter pilot (Iraq War), now in the Reserves.

How Clare first arrives in the town of Miller's Kill and over the course of these books insinuates herself into the town and the lives of its people while often caught up in the murder investigations of by-the-book Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne makes for great reading. BUT, this is definitely a series that MUST be read in order from the beginning to get the full effect of the deepening friendship between Clare and the police chief who, from the beginning is very much married. The author has always handled this aspect of the storyline with tact and an intensity of feeling expressed mostly in silence. To see the titles of the other books in this great series, please go to the fantastic fiction website.