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Fantasy Mystery Romance Comics Non-Fiction

Sunset Express

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Sunset Express (1996) Robert Crais

Book six of the Elvis Cole series.

A high profile murder of the wife of a very rich businessman brings in a high-profile lawyer. When they hire Elvis Cole to look into the arresting officer, everything seems to be going normally, until suddenly it all gets strange.

In the middle of this, Lucy Chenier and her son Ben come for a working visit (Lucy working, Ben vacationing).

I said, “How do you know it was me? Maybe it was an imposter.”

Lucy crossed her arms and considered me. “Now that you mention it, the man on television was devastatingly handsome and darkly mysterious.”

I said, “Oh. That was me.”

Lucy was beaming. “We just turned on the news and there you were.”

There are so many little things I like about this story. Take this bit.

A homeless man with a shopping cart filled with neatly folded cardboard squares was seated beneath the phone, but he graciously moved aside when I told him I needed to make some calls. He said, “Please feel free. It is, after all, a public instrument.” He was wearing spats.

The homeless man said, “You see? When we force events we corrupt them. Your flexibility allowed events to unfold in a way that pleases you. We know this as synchronicity.”

“You’re a very wise man. Thank you.”

He spread his hands. “To possess great wisdom obliges one to share it. Enjoy.”

That is such a marvelous bit. It kinda makes me wish I was a big burly guy so I can talk to strangers without fear.

Plus, I love his cat.

(T)he cat walked in. He froze in the center of the kitchen floor and growled.

I said, “Knock that off.”

He moved through the kitchen, stopping every couple of steps, his cat nose working and the growl soft in his chest. I said, “We’re going to have guests for a few days, and if you bite or scratch either one of them it will go hard for you.”

I miss my cat, who could also be a jerk.

This is the first book where there is no mention of past military service in Vietnam. (I’m keeping track because I know it happens in at least two other mystery series.)

Joe Pike is six foot one, with long ropey muscles, dark hair cut short, and bright red arrows tattooed on the outside of each deltoid. He got the tattoos in a faraway place long before it was stylish for rock stars and TV actors and Gen X rave queens to flash skin art.

Elvis is completely himself in this book–he’s in love with Lucy and not afraid to show it, he’s still a smart-ass, but gets in less trouble. The mystery is good, the dialog is sharp, and it’s just a fun book.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Hyperion

Categories: 9/10, Mystery, Private Eye, Reread

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