THE DOOMSTERS - Ross MacDonald

The Lew Archer series by Ross MacDonald have been described by The New York Times " the finest series of detective novels ever written by an American".  This is as per the back cover of my edition , this is accurate and would probably apply to any country not just the U S A.

Archer is the ultra cynical private eye who keeps on believing that human nature can't be as bad as he sees it and continually gets disappointed. 

"The Doomsters " starts with Archer being woken by an escapee from a mental hospital who claims to have been committed so as to deprive him of his inheritance.

Our 'knight' Archer becomes involved trying to solve several historic deaths and a few recent ones connected with this one family.

Along the way he encounters several layers of evil involving everyone in the story.   MacDonald writes so well about the weakness's of humans, his writing is much more than hard boiled detective fiction.

There is some Archer back story in this story that I haven't encountered in the other novels in the series that I have read.

This story is not as good as "The Chill" but then again nothing is, but it's a good murder mystery and a fine way to spend a Sunday on the couch. (Published 1958)

THE FIRST RULE - Robert Crais

A 'Joe Pike' novel featuring Elvis Cole on the periphery this time.

The Pike novels are turning out to be excellent fantasy, very violent with a plausible plot.

A ex- military contractor friend of Pike's is murdered in an apparent random home invasion burglary. Not only do they kill the friend but his wife and babies as well.

Pike sets out to avenge these killings and to clarify to himself whether or not his mate was involved in any crime.

His investigation leads to two very nasty Serbian gang leaders involved in a feud.

One thing about 'Joe Pike' if he has a gun to a person's head and threatens to shoot if he's not supplied the information there's no mucking about, he just shoots you, he doesn't do too much debate.

Excellent crime fantasy with a colossal body count. Always recommended (Published 2010)

TAKEN - Robert Crais

This is a departure from the normal Elvis Cole / Joe Pike story in that it is told in a non linear fashion, chapter jumping between characters and back in forth in time.

The basic plot is two teenagers have been kidnapped by 'bajadores' -bandits- that kidnap illegal immigrants and demand ransom from their families. If the monies are not paid they are murdered. Cole is hired to recover these two and ends up being kidnapped himself. Which results in Joe Pike being unleashed.

As a plot its pretty basic and if the story was linear it would be very ordinary but the time shifting and having separate chapters from the view point of several characters works. There are even chapters from the point of view of the victims.

The mode of story telling builds tension nicely right up to the very violent ending.

A good book recommended highly for fans and the casual reader alike.
(Published 2012)

CHASING THE DIME - Michael Connelly

This is a stand alone novel from Connelly as opposed to his Harry Bosch series.

The scenario involves Henry Pierce a computer genius moving into a new apartment and receiving numerous calls from clients of a call girl who previously had this number.

From here Henry is dragged into the Los Angeles world of escort services and Internet web sites.

The story has some merit but the plotting is ridiculous, which is a shame because Connelly is usually so much better than this. He puts out a lot of books so I am presuming this was a bad day, however his editor needs a kick in the backside for letting it go out as is.(Published 2002)

CHASING DARKNESS - Robert Crais

During a fire in Los Angeles a corpse is located in a house when the Fire department are trying evacuate the residents. In the hands of the corpse is a photo album showing the bodies of seven murder victims.

Of those victims one person has been charged but on evidence supplied by PI Elvis Cole this suspect walked free.

So now Cole has to find the killer or live with the fact that he may have contributed to the deaths of further victims.

A good Elvis Cole novel, together with his partner Joe Pike they set out to solve the problem.

This is darker and more gruesome, not as flippant and humorous as earlier books in the series but good value for money.

Crais is probably the best American writing in this genre at the moment (apologies to James Lee Burke though while brilliant has gone off the boil a bit) and he never disappoints . (Published 2008)

THE DROP - Michael Connelly

The latest offering from Connelly in the 'Harry Bosch' series and it is excellent.

Harry is attached to the Open Unsolved Unit, investigating old homicides when he is called in to investigate the apparent suicide of a L. A. City Councillors son. The councillor is an ex- detective who loathes Bosch.

While doing this he is trying to solve an old murder where DNA was located on the victim but the suspect was only 8 years old at the time.

This is brilliant crime writing, the last 'Bosch' I read ( Nine Dragons) was poor, but the author has nailed this. Genuinely excellent. (Published 2011)

NINE DRAGONS - Michael Connelly

A 'Harry Bosch' story and its a poor one, which is unusual because Connelly really is the business in this genre. The problem for me was that the story is just too far fetched or probably our hero's actions are too ludicrous even for a fictional detective.

It starts off with a murder in L.A and then to Hong Kong for 24 hours where his daughter is kidnapped and then back to L.A where the murder is solved .

It would be a major plot spoiler if anymore was said about this tale, suffice to say that its sillier than it sounds.

Michael Connelly is productive and generally excellent, especially the 'Bosch' books but this doesn't have much to redeem it at all.4/10
(Published 2009)