Robert Crais is a former screenwriter for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law who was once nominated for an Emmy. He quit screenwriting in the 1980s to become a novelist.

Books I’ve read by Robert Crais

1. The Monkey’s Raincoat (1987)

Back of the book summary: Meet Elvis Cole, L.A. private eye. He quotes Jiminy Cricket and carries a .38. He’s a literate, wisecracking Vietnam vet who is determined never to grow up.

2. Stalking the Angel (1989)

Back of the book summary: Meet Elvis Cole, L.A. private eye. He quotes Jiminy Cricket and carries a .38. He’s a literate, wisecracking Vietnam vet who is determined never to grow up.

3. Lullaby Town (1992)

Back of the book summary: Hollywood’s newest wunderkind is Peter Alan Nelsen, the brilliant, erratic director known  as the King of Adventure. His films make billions, but his manners make enemies. What the boy king wants, he gets, and what Nelsen wants is for Elvis to comb the country for the airhead wife and infant the film-school flunkout dumped en route to becoming the third biggest filmmaker in America. It’s the kind of case Cole can handle in his sleep – until it turns out to be a nightmare. For when Cole finds Nelsen’s ex-wife in a small Connecticut town, she’s nothing like he expects. The lady has some unwanted – and very nasty – mob connections, which means Elvis could be opening an East Coast branch of his P.I. Office…..at the bottom of the Hudson River.

4. Free Fall (1993)

Back of the book summary: Elvis Cole is just a detective who can’t say no, especially to a girl in a terrible fix. And Jennifer Sheridan qualifies: Her fiance, Mark Thurman, is a decorated L.A. cop with an elite plainclothes unit, but Jennifer’s sure he’s in trouble – the kind of serious trouble that only Elvis Cole can help him out of. Five minutes after his new client leaves his office, Elvis and his partner, the enigmatic Joe Pike, are hip-deep in a deadly situation as they plummet into a world of South Central gangs, corrupt cops, and conspiracies of silence. And before the case is through, every cop in the LAPD will be gunning for a pair of escaped armed-and-dangerous killers – Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

5. Voodoo River (1995)

6. Sunset Express (1996)

7. Indigo Slam (1997)

8. L.A. Requiem (1999)

9. Demolition Angel (2000)

Back of the book summary: Carol Starkey is struggling to pick up the pieces of her former life as L.A.’s finest bomb squad technician. Fueled with liberal doses of alcohol and Tagamet, she’s doing time a Detective-2 with LAPD’s Criminal Conspiracy Section. Three years have passed since the event that still haunts her: a detonation that killer her partner and lover, scarred her body and soul, and ended her career as a bomb tech. When a seemingly innocuous bomb call explodes into a charred murder scene, Carol catches the case and embarks on an investigation of a series of explosions that reveal chilling intentions. The bombs are designed expressly to kill bomb technicians. Now, as the one tech who survived the deadliest of blasts, Carol is in for the most perilous fight of her life.

10. Hostage (2001)

Back of the book summary: Three young men gunning for action rob a minimart in a sleepy suburb north of Los Angeles. When things get out of control, and with the police on their tail, they flee the scene and invade a home in an exclusive gated community, take a panicked family hostage. Police chief Jeff Talley finds an all-too-familiar scene in front of the house where the criminals are holed up with a father and his two children. A former hostage negotiator with LAPD’s SWAT unit, Talley is quickly thrown back into the high-pressure world that he has so desperately tried to leave behind. But Talley’s nightmare has barely begun, because this isn’t just any house; it holds the dirty secrets of L.A.’s biggest crime lord. And the people inside aren’t the only ones held hostage.

11. The Last Detective (2003)

Back of the book summary: P.I. Elvis Cole’s relationship with attorney Lucy Chernier is strained. But it becomes even more tense when the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her 10-year-old son Ben is staying with Elvis, the boy vanishes without a trace. When the kidnappers call, it’s not for ransom, but for a promise to punish Cole for past sins he claims he didn’t commit. With the LAPD wrestling over the case, and the boy’s estranged father attempting to take control of the investigation, Cole vows to find Ben first. But Cole’s partner, Joe Pike, knows more about this case than he has said. Pike lives in a world where dangerous men commit crimes beyond all reckoning. Now, one of those men is alive and well in L.A. – and calling Elvis Cole to war.

12. The Forgotten Man (2005)

Back of the book summary: In an alleyway in Los Angeles and old man, clutching faded newspaper clippings and gasping his last word to a cop, lies dying of a gunshot wound. The victim claims to be P.I. Elvis Cole’s long-lost father – a stranger who has always haunted his son. As a teenager, Cole searched  desperately for his father. As a man, he faces the frightening possibility that this murder victim was himself a killer. Caught in limbo between a broken love affair and way too much publicity over his last case, Cole at first resists getting involved with a new case. Then it consumes him. Now a stranger’s terrifying secrets – and a hunt for his killer – give Cole a frightening glimpse into his own past. And he can’t tell if it’s forgiveness or a bullet that’s coming next.

13. The Two-Minute Rule (2006)

Back of the book summary: Max Holman knew the two minute rule: Get in, get the cash, and get out. But two minutes can be a lifetime. In one moment of weakness he botched a bank job and was sent away for years. Now released from prison, Max wants to reconcile with his son, an L.A. cop. Instead he receives the devastating news that his son’s been gunned down in cold blood. To uncover the truth about the killing, Max aligns with Katherine Pollard, the ex-FBI agent who put him away – in a father’s search for justice and revenge.

Mini book review: The early works of Robert Crais featured wise-cracking detective Elvis Cole, who reminded me a lot of Gregory Mcdonald’s hilarious book and movie character Fletch, and Cole’s bad ass sidekick Joe Pike. After eight novels of smooth sailing featuring the duo, Crais shifted into another gear with a couple of standalone novels, including Hostage, which was made into a movie starring Bruce Willis, and Demolition Angel, which was probably too gritty and realistic to become a movie, even though it should have been. The Two Minute Rule is the third novel without Cole and it may be Crais’ best work to date. The story centers around Max Holman, a bank robber just out of prison who joins forces with Katherine Pollard, the FBI agent who put him away. That idea may sound far-fetched but don’t let that scare you. Everything about this novel works, from the characters which could be in a George Pelecanos novel to the story, which brilliantly unfolds and beautifully comes together. The book made me laugh and it also brought tears to my eyes, it was that good. I know Crais goes back to the awesome Cole and Pike duo, but I really hope he brings back Holman and Pollard for a future novel — even if it’s only for a cameo appearance.

14. The Watchman (2007)

Back of the book summary: Joe Pike – the ex-cop, ex-Marine, ex-mercenary from Robert Crais’ superb P.I. Elvis Cole novels – headlines the explosive action of this page-turning New York Times bestseller. A wild-living young heiress slams into trouble in the L.A. night – the kind of trouble even her money can’t shut down. After her Aston Martin collides with a mysterious car, Larkin Connor Barkley attempts to help the accident victims – and becomes the sole witness in a federal investigation. Whisking her out of her Beverly Hills world is Joe Pike, hired to shield Larkin from a relentless team of killers. But when a chain of lies and betrayals tightens around them, Pike drops off the grid and follows his own rules for survival: strike fast, hit hard, hunt down the hunters.

Mini book review: After taking a break with a standalone novel, Robert Crais returns to his signature Elvis Cole-Joe Pike duo in The Watchman. While previous books in the series focus on private eye Cole and his Fletch-like one-liners, this one features the enigmatic Pike. From the 10 previous books in the series, we know Pike is a tough ex-cop who owns a gun store and skirts the law as he helps Cole solve cases. In this book, we learn why Pike left the LAPD and became a mercenary. We also find out Pike has a soft spot beneath his rugged exterior, something that comes to light while Pike serves as the bodyguard for a young woman, which is the premise of the book. As Pike uses his training to keep the woman alive, Cole uses his investigation skills to find out why she is being targeted by assassins and who is responsible. (Pike also enlists the help of LAPD forensic criminalist John Chen, whose hilarious, scene-stealing character reminds me a lot of Vince Masuka, the sex-crazed forensic technician in Showtime’s outstanding series, Dexter.) The result is a book that is enjoyable, although things don’t add up for me. I raved about Crais’ last book, The Two Minute Rule, which I really liked. But an abrupt plot turn near the end of the book followed by an unlikely, unexplained coincidence puts this book in the very good but not great category, despite the awards it has won.

Books on my Robert Crais reading list

15. Chasing Darkness (2008)

16. The First Rule (2010)