When Ellen Lang's husband disappears with their son, she hires Elvis Cole to track him down. A quiet and seemingly submissive wife, Ellen can't even write a check without him. All she wants is to get him and her son back - no questions asked. The search for Ellen's errant husband leads Elvis into the seamier side of Hollywood. He soon learns that Mort Lang is a down-on-his-luck talent agent who associates with a schlocky movie producer, and the last place he was spotted was at a party thrown by a famous and very well-connected ex-Matador. But no one has seen him since - including his B-movie girlfriend. At the same time the police find Mort in his parked car with four gunshots in his chest - and no kid in sight - Ellen disappears. Now nothing is what it seems, and the heat is on. It's up to Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike to find the connection between sleazy Hollywood players and an ex-Matador. "Far and away the most satisfying private eye novel in years. Grab this one - it's a winner!" - Lawrence Block "Is Bob Crais good? Put it this way: if they're taking you out to put you against the firing squad wall, and you want to enjoy your last moments on earth, pass on the last cigarette and ask for an Elvis Cole novel." - Harlan Ellison "Robert B. Parker has some competition on his hands....Elvis Cole is an appealing character and Crais' style is fresh and funny." - Sue Grafton
The Monkey's Raincoat (Elvis Cole)
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Book Description
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About the Author
Robert Crais is the 2006 recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award. He is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including The Two Minute Rule, The Forgotten Man, and L.A. Requiem.
From AudioFile
With smooth efficiency, David Stuart reads this abridgment of Robert Crais's first novel, the Anthony and Macavity Award-winning mystery that introduced Private Investigator Elvis Cole. Stuart reads with a syncopated hesitation that confers a Hollywood sullenness but misses the "noir" edge of Crais's writing. Elvis Cole--the sensitive and wisecracking collector of Disneyana--and his heavy-artillery partner, Joe Pike, traipse through the seamier streets of Los Angeles, infiltrate high-society Hollywood, and cross the line with the Latino drug trade in search of an errant husband and a missing boy. The adventure and the characters of this novel are exciting and totally satisfying. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Robert Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. He was the 2006 recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and four generations of police officers. He purchased a second-hand paperback of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister when he was fifteen, which inspired his lifelong love of writing, Los Angeles, and the literature of crime fiction.
He journeyed to Hollywood in 1976 where he quickly found work writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice, as well as scripting numerous series pilots and movies-of-the-week for the major networks.
Feeling constrained by the collaborative working requirements of Hollywood, Crais resigned from a lucrative position as a contract writer and television producer in order to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. His first efforts proved unsuccessful, but upon the death of his father in 1985, Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel, The Monkey's Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar Award. It has since been selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
Crais conceived of the novel as a stand-alone, but realized that, in Elvis Cole, he had created an ideal and powerful character through which to comment upon his life and times. Elvis Cole's readership skyrocketed in 1999 upon the publication of L. A. Requiem, which was a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and forever changed the way Crais conceived of and structured his novels. Larger and deeper in scope, Publishers Weekly wrote of L. A. Requiem, "Crais has stretched himself the way another Southern California writer, Ross Macdonald, always tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base." Booklist added, "This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience."
Crais followed with his first non-series novel, Demolition Angel, which was published in 2000 and featured former Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Technician Carol Starkey. In 2001, Crais published his second non-series novel, Hostage, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was a world-wide bestseller. The editors of Amazon.com selected Hostage as the #1 thriller of the year. A film adaptation of Hostage was released in 2005, starring Bruce Willis as ex-LAPD SWAT negotiator Jeff Talley.
Robert Crais lives in the Santa Monica mountains with his wife, three cats, and many thousands of books. Additional information can be found at his website, www.robertcrais.com.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and four generations of police officers. He purchased a second-hand paperback of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister when he was fifteen, which inspired his lifelong love of writing, Los Angeles, and the literature of crime fiction.
He journeyed to Hollywood in 1976 where he quickly found work writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice, as well as scripting numerous series pilots and movies-of-the-week for the major networks.
Feeling constrained by the collaborative working requirements of Hollywood, Crais resigned from a lucrative position as a contract writer and television producer in order to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. His first efforts proved unsuccessful, but upon the death of his father in 1985, Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel, The Monkey's Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar Award. It has since been selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
Crais conceived of the novel as a stand-alone, but realized that, in Elvis Cole, he had created an ideal and powerful character through which to comment upon his life and times. Elvis Cole's readership skyrocketed in 1999 upon the publication of L. A. Requiem, which was a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and forever changed the way Crais conceived of and structured his novels. Larger and deeper in scope, Publishers Weekly wrote of L. A. Requiem, "Crais has stretched himself the way another Southern California writer, Ross Macdonald, always tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base." Booklist added, "This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience."
Crais followed with his first non-series novel, Demolition Angel, which was published in 2000 and featured former Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Technician Carol Starkey. In 2001, Crais published his second non-series novel, Hostage, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was a world-wide bestseller. The editors of Amazon.com selected Hostage as the #1 thriller of the year. A film adaptation of Hostage was released in 2005, starring Bruce Willis as ex-LAPD SWAT negotiator Jeff Talley.
Robert Crais lives in the Santa Monica mountains with his wife, three cats, and many thousands of books. Additional information can be found at his website, www.robertcrais.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
197 of 199 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First of a Great Series!,
This review is from: The Monkey's Raincoat (Mass Market Paperback)
The Monkey's Raincoat, grabs you from the first chapter, puts you on the edge of your seat and keeps you there to the climactic end of the book. Meet Elvis Cole, Viet Nam vet, ex-security guard turned private investigator. He's a hard boiled, wise-cracking detective who gives Mike Hammer and Sam Spade a run for their money. The case begins as Ellen Lang hires Elvis to find her missing husband, Hollywood agent, Mort, who's taken their son and disappeared. Unfortunately, the case is a bit more complicated than just a simple missing person. Mort is soon found shot dead in his car, there's no sign of the son and Ellen is missing too. Elvis Cole is now on a mission to find mother and son and it involves missing drugs and some pretty frightening bad guys. Robert Crais has created a great mystery with a tight plot, full of terrific, interesting characters. His writing is crisp and sharp with witty and irreverent dialogue and action packed scenes. This is a fast paced, page turner that won't let you down. Mr. Crais deserved all the nominations and awards this book won.
66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Start!,
By Richard F. Fonvielle (San Clemente, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Monkey's Raincoat (Mass Market Paperback)
I was intrigued by the reviews of "LA Requiem" and, since I live in SoCal, thought I might be interested in Robert Crais' work. I selected "The Monkey's Raincoat" because it was his first novel, and the reviews were mixed. I was pleasantly suprised by his effort. What this book has done, besides entertain me for a few evenings, is to whet my appetite for the rest of the Elvis Cole series. As a matter of fact, I just finished ordering all of Mr. Crais' books.
88 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Introducing Jiminy Cricket,
By Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Monkey's Raincoat (Mass Market Paperback)
Possibly one of the most delightful moments for a crabby old reader and reviewer of mystery stories is to discover an excellent author whom he has somehow missed. Of course, in this case it is also a bit embarrassing. Robert Crais is the author of, among other things, 'L.A. Requiem,' indicating that this reviewer is not only unobservant, but a bit stubborn as well. I am not always a fan of the hard-boiled detective/hero genre, and most of those I don't like seem to live around Los Angeles.Deciding to break with a long tradition (for me), I ordered this book, the first in the Elvis Cole series, for my trial dip. I was ill prepared for a small but potent bombshell that won its author several awards and nominations. Gasping for breath, I settled in for an unexpectedly wild and enjoyable ride. Elvis Cole is the anti-detective incarnate. In an office filled with Disney memorabilia, shared with an invisible partner, Cole meets with new client Ellen Lang and her best friend Janet Simon. The problem - Ellen's husband Mort and her son Perry have disappeared. Ellen is a difficult client, but Mort definitely was not a perfect husband, and Cole proceeds on the assumption that this is a straightforward parental snatch and run. Cole discovers Mort's girlfriend is missing as well, and that his business partners in the film business are a bit sleazy, but he is caught by surprise when this suddenly becomes a murder case. The badness mounts as Cole finds his clues lead from film moguls to the top of the narcotics trade. Soon Cole, on a grim search for the boy, is having his strings pulled by people who would just as soon kill him as look at him. With unusual adeptness, the detective switches from Jiminy Cricket quotes to guns and fists. Joined by his partner, Elvis Cole goes to war. The success of this genre of detective fiction rises and falls on the quality of main characters. Between John MacDonald, Raymond Chandler, Robert Parker, etc., etc., original plots are hard to come by. So a unique character like the wisecracking, 1966 Corvette driving Elvis Cole is too precious to waste. If you are looking to breathe some fresh air on your musty old mystery shelves, don't even consider passing this one by.
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