"THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT" by Robert Crais (A+)

If other books were as well written and as entertaining as this book, then we would all be a nation of readers. Robert Crais has won multiple awards with his fourth novel. In my humble opinion, he deserves every single one of those awards and more besides. This is one of those rare books that even before you have finished reading it, you rave about it to your bibliophile friends by telling them that this is a "must read."

Crais brings to life a fascinating Los Angeles PI with the unusual name of Elvis Cole. From the very first page, Cole turns out to be one of the most indelible literary characters imaginable in the world of private investigators. Crais gives a special personality and texture to his literary character with the added bonus that Crais writes it in the first person, so we are a party to Cole's every thought.

Cole is not some bland PI going through the paces to solve the crime of a missing husband and son for a well to do Los Angeles wife. No, bland he is certainly not. Cole is smart, he is tough, and he is funny, really funny. He is totally delightful because his take on life is so acerbic and down to earth. This guy pops off more one liners than a comedian. He is a first class "wisenheimer" with a skewed vision of life who never takes anything too seriously. You just gotta love this guy!

One has to catch their breath at Cole's first name, and Crais gives us a cute twist here. It seems that his mother went to a concert by Elvis Presley when he was a little boy, and the first thing that she did afterwards was to change his name to Elvis. Here is a woman who is committed... or should be committed. In any event, Elvis never bothered to change his name, because "that's the name that she gave me." So here also is a respectful son who understands the idiosyncrasies of his mother.

Cole is the partner of Joe Pike, the star of the previously reviewed and highly regarded, "The Watchman." Or, more accurately, Pike is the silent partner of Elvis Cole, the name on the door which allows Pike to remain in the obscurity that he needs to do what he does. They have been in a very successful partnership for 12 years, and it seems that neither can get along with anyone else. There is a phenomenal level of trust and respect between these two in their hand and glove partnership.

One day Janet Simon drags her friend, Ellen Lang, to a meeting with Elvis at the offices of the Elvis Cole Detective Agency, where a Pinocchio clock with moving eyes looks down on everything. Ellen is very dubious about taking this action even though her husband and her young son have been missing for several days. Janet has to explain to her that now is the time to take action, and going to a PI is better than going to the police. Doing that might cause a great deal of publicity which will damage her husband's career as an agent for movie stars.

Much to Cole's distaste, Janet treats Ellen with considerable condescension as if she were a little girl. In fact, it turns out that Ellen's husband, Mort, has done the same. Ellen had once been a spunky and adventurous girl from the Midwest, but now she has turned into a milquetoast Los Angeles housewife who does little more than keep a nice house for her husband and their three children.

A little preliminary digging quickly establishes the fact that Mort has been leading a secret life. A former well to do employee of a high powered talent agency, he had struck out on his own and since then his business has declined to the point where Elvis can't understand how he has been able to pay the bills. Then he learns that Mort had a mistress, and when he tries to meet with her, he finds out that she has also disappeared. More disturbing is the car that is shadowing him after he is seen near her apartment.

The dark picture starts to fill in after Elvis meets with Mort's sleazy business associate and others. Rumors of wild parties and Mort's involvement with nose candy begin to surface. Elvis wonders if Mort was dealing drugs on the side to keep up his lifestyle. Published in 1987 by Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Publishing Group, 245 pages.

Enjoy, enjoy a good read whenever you can! Carl