Rating: 
Summary: Elvis Cole returns, sort of...
Review: This is a reprint of a previously published Elvis Cole novel, originally out in the mid-90's. It's worth a second look though, especially if you like mysteries and didn't read it the first time around.Elvis Cole is a private eye in West L.A. He has an office decorated with Disney figures (and a Jiminy Cricket clock) and a gun, and when things get tough he has a strange, enigmatic partner named Joe Pike, whose solution to problems usually involves shooting them. Cole does the detecting, Pike the heavy lifting, and of course the obligatory humor. In this installment, Cole is approached by three children who wish to hire him to find their father. Initially put off by being hired by kids, he's persuaded when his girlfriend looks the situation over and decides that the kids are alright, they just need their dad. Soon, things take a nasty turn, as it develops that the Russian mob is also looking for the father. Throw in some right-wing Vietnamese revolutionaries, various Federal agents, and settings from the San Fernando Valley to Disneyland, and you get an interesting novel, complete with shootouts and much suspense. Oh, and Elvis's girlfriend turns out to have an ex-husband with a very long reach, and some powerful friends, and he makes things interesting too. I've enjoyed this series since it started. I would highly recommend this book, and the series. You don't have to (really) read any of the other books before this one, though Voodoo River might not be a bad idea, so that you understand the relationship between Elvis and Lucy (the girlfriend).
Rating:
Summary: Crais does it again!
Review: This is my second time into the world of Elvis Cole and I loved every single second of it! Elvis Cole is a sensational and hilarious PI that gets involved in a case finding the father of 3 children that have been left to fend for themselves. This 'missing' persons cases leads Cole into a world of drugs, the Russian Mafia, funny money and kidnapping. Cole and his band are so damn good that you forget that they aren't real and that is what keeps you so engrossed in the story and characters that you will not be able to put this book down! I really enjoy crimer/thrillers with a bit of humour and old-fashioned psychos to make it interesting & Crais is what I really needed after a few 'classical' crime books. If you love your crime to keep you laughing and guessing until the end, then you will love Indigo Slam..I can't wait to get the rest of this books!
Rating: 
Summary: extremely over-rated
Review: This is the second of Elvis Cole novels(the other being The Monkeys Raincoat )that I have read. I get through a lot of private detective novels and neither of these 2 books would make my top 100. Stick to Dennis Lehane or Laurence Block.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cut Above the Rest!
Review: This was probably my least favorite Elvis Cole novel by Crais. That said, his average novel is better than most. Elvis is drawn into a mystery when three kids show up at his office asking for assistance in finding their missing Father. As Elvis investigates, he finds himself into a mystery involving Russian mobsters, Vietnamese revolutionaries and the Witness Protection Progam.
Elvis enlists Joe Pike of course and we delve deeper into Elvis' relationship with Lucy Chenier. Keep 'em coming Robert.
Rating:
Summary: Counterfeiter
Review: Three children and their father are moving. To each of them two boxes for belongings have been assigned. The destination is Salt Lake City. At the new location different names are to be taken. The move is to take place under the auspices of the U.S. Marshals.
Three years later the children are in Los Angeles consulting Elvis Cole because the father has disappeared. Since they are minors Elvis follows them to learn that they are living in a house in seemingly decent circumstances. The children used the family car to find his office. He agrees to take the case for a reduced fee and will not contact the child welfare authorities at the present time.
The investigation creates a need to travel to Seattle to visit a former associate of the father It is learned that the father was a printer and a counterfeiter. He may be on the run from a Ukranian, a Russian mob. Elvis runs into federal agents in Seattle who are pursuing the case.
Days later Elvis sees the three children and the father in California. Later a partner of the father is found to have been tortured to death. A part of the equation bearing upon current circumstances and mysteries is that the father has cancer.
The PI, Elvis Cole, is an outstanding character. The story is exciting.
Rating: 
Summary: Chinese Dinner
Review: Two of my favorite Elvis adventures are "The Monkey's Raincoat" and "L.A. Requiem." "The Last Detective" is likewise very well written. This isn't. Elvis takes another case for nothing. He must not only be the World's Greatest Detective, but the The World's Greatest Detective Who Doesn't Need Any Money, too. Like a blue collar boxer from the east coast who tires in anonimity, taking the wrong fights for the right reason, you keep hoping he'll have a million dollar payday sometime. Here, Elvis helps three children find their lost father on the run from the Russian Mob. It's a nice twist and Robert Crais, as always, pulls it off well. But the children are tedious. One acts out and curses constantly. You're hoping that the mob gets him. The father is tedious. He complains from page five and we have him figured out by page fifteen. Joe is tedious. He lacks that hard, scary edge that never fails to interest us. Here he has one liners that are a cross between Clint Eastwood and Jack Benny. Heavily armed. Not a page turner and a book that would be a poor place to start what is a very well written series. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike maybe the best series around. "Indigo Slam" isn't.
| 
