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Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #1-3
The Monkey's Raincoat / Stalking The Angel / Lullaby Town
‘Shooting for the big time with all guns blazing’ Guardian Containing STALKING THE ANGEL, LULLABY TOWN and THE MONKEY’S RAINCOAT, this omnibus introduces readers to one the sharpest PI’s on the scene; Disney obsessed Vietnam vet Elvis Cole. And the most frightening sidekick since Spenser’s Hawk; the taciturn and lethal Joe Pike. Award-winning, critically acclaimed Robert Crais built a rock-solid following with these sparkling crime novels. Now they are available in hardback for the first time to his growing legion of UK fans.
640 pages, Hardcover
First published December 21, 2001
3 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
Robert Crais
181 books4,591 followers Robert Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. A native of Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and police officers. He purchased a secondhand 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. Other literary influences include Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker, and John Steinbeck.
After years of amateur film-making and writing short 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 numerous series pilots and Movies-of-the-Week for the major networks. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues, but is most proud of his 4-hour NBC miniseries, Cross of Fire, which the New York Times declared: "A searing and powerful documentation of the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to national prominence in the 20s."
In the mid-eighties, 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. (See the WORKS section for additional titles.) Elvis Cole’s readership and fan base grew with each new book, then 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. In this new way of telling his stories, Crais combined the classic ‘first person’ narrative of the American detective novel with flashbacks, multiple story lines, multiple points-of-view, and literary elements to better illuminate his themes. 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. Starkey has since become a leading character in the Elvis Cole series. 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. Additionally, 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.
Elvis Cole returned in 2003 with the publication of The Last Detective, followed by the tenth Elvis Cole novel, The Forgotten Man, in 2005. Both novels explore with increasing depth the natures and characters of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. RC’s third stand-alone novel, The Two Minute Rule, was published in 2006. The eleventh entry in the Elvis Cole series, The Watchman, will be published sometime in 2007.
After years of amateur film-making and writing short 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 numerous series pilots and Movies-of-the-Week for the major networks. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues, but is most proud of his 4-hour NBC miniseries, Cross of Fire, which the New York Times declared: "A searing and powerful documentation of the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to national prominence in the 20s."
In the mid-eighties, 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. (See the WORKS section for additional titles.) Elvis Cole’s readership and fan base grew with each new book, then 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. In this new way of telling his stories, Crais combined the classic ‘first person’ narrative of the American detective novel with flashbacks, multiple story lines, multiple points-of-view, and literary elements to better illuminate his themes. 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. Starkey has since become a leading character in the Elvis Cole series. 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. Additionally, 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.
Elvis Cole returned in 2003 with the publication of The Last Detective, followed by the tenth Elvis Cole novel, The Forgotten Man, in 2005. Both novels explore with increasing depth the natures and characters of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. RC’s third stand-alone novel, The Two Minute Rule, was published in 2006. The eleventh entry in the Elvis Cole series, The Watchman, will be published sometime in 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 27, 2020
Robert Crais is one of those popular authors whose name I regularly stumbled upon, leaving me curious about the author’s work. I went in with high hopes, but they weren’t quite met.
The first three Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books – The Monkey’s Raincoat, Stalking the Angel, and Lullaby Town – certainly gripped me and had me curious to see how the story would play out, but I was never as invested in them as I could have been. They were interesting, they kept my attention, but I was left wanting a wee bit more from them.
I can understand the appeal of the series, but it wasn’t quite enough for me.
The first three Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books – The Monkey’s Raincoat, Stalking the Angel, and Lullaby Town – certainly gripped me and had me curious to see how the story would play out, but I was never as invested in them as I could have been. They were interesting, they kept my attention, but I was left wanting a wee bit more from them.
I can understand the appeal of the series, but it wasn’t quite enough for me.
January 19, 2021
"He had the sort of eyes that had just been looking somewhere else."
That has got to be the best character description of all time.
That has got to be the best character description of all time.
February 15, 2017
Took me a while to get into the books.Many failed attempts but once I did I enjoyed them.I don't know if I would buy Crais books again but I'd read if it happened one was lying around.
January 15, 2024
It has been alleged that pulp detective novels are the spiritual ancestor of the Medieval French/Norman genre of Romance. Not to be confused with the modern genre of romance, Medieval Romance focuses on a knight errant facing multiple challenges that test his chivalric prowess and values. The martial aspect is there, of course, but the tests go beyond the brutish acts of hitting and being hit; his intelligence is tested, as are his morals. Can he navigate relationships, caring for those under his charge, and respecting his superiors, even when these challenges seem directly at odds? Can he finish his quest with his honor intact? It has also been alleged that pulp detective novels are coarse escapist male fantasy, the word "pulp" denoting cheap, seamy, and stylized to the point of absurdity. In poor taste, in other words. This collection of three novels, representing fictional PI Elvis Cole and author Robert Crais in their early years, reflects both interpretations.
As three separate novels, the entries are okay. There's elements to love and ignore in all of them. Elvis Cole himself is reasonably personable, reasonably likeable, and if the situations he finds himself in are contrived, that's the genre. I think, however, that the poorest one in the set is the first, and the best is the third. Most authors are like that. Some write an absolute banger of a debut and spend most of their careers trying to recapture the magic. This kind of story about storytellers is compelling, we love to hear about ineffable genius. Most authors, however, get hooked up with a publisher with a novel just barely good enough to edge out the dozens of others, a matter of the editor's preference to be honest. Encouraged to keep writing, they are given time and space to hone their craft. Instead of using up their few great ideas, the characters they create inspire new ones. This is what appears to me to have happened with Crais, and his knight errant Elvis Cole. The pulpy escapism in "The Monkey's Raincoat" is palpable; Cole is flashy, clever, bold, irreverent, and nearly always the toughest, smartest man in the room. Women want him, and it's obvious men should want to be him. Or something like. It's too much; Cole's casual affect seems forced at times, suggesting insecurity. And yet, even from the beginning there are hints of a more subtle masculinity in Cole, which mature over the next two novels into something we could admire and aspire to, rather than idolize. Crais, and Cole, learn restraint, which makes them all the more lovable. Cole begins with the quirk and edge of a pulp PI, and becomes more like Sir Gawain. Not that he ever loses his quirk, or his edge. He always shares a fun perspective.
If I come across more Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner Joe Pike again, I won't say no.
As three separate novels, the entries are okay. There's elements to love and ignore in all of them. Elvis Cole himself is reasonably personable, reasonably likeable, and if the situations he finds himself in are contrived, that's the genre. I think, however, that the poorest one in the set is the first, and the best is the third. Most authors are like that. Some write an absolute banger of a debut and spend most of their careers trying to recapture the magic. This kind of story about storytellers is compelling, we love to hear about ineffable genius. Most authors, however, get hooked up with a publisher with a novel just barely good enough to edge out the dozens of others, a matter of the editor's preference to be honest. Encouraged to keep writing, they are given time and space to hone their craft. Instead of using up their few great ideas, the characters they create inspire new ones. This is what appears to me to have happened with Crais, and his knight errant Elvis Cole. The pulpy escapism in "The Monkey's Raincoat" is palpable; Cole is flashy, clever, bold, irreverent, and nearly always the toughest, smartest man in the room. Women want him, and it's obvious men should want to be him. Or something like. It's too much; Cole's casual affect seems forced at times, suggesting insecurity. And yet, even from the beginning there are hints of a more subtle masculinity in Cole, which mature over the next two novels into something we could admire and aspire to, rather than idolize. Crais, and Cole, learn restraint, which makes them all the more lovable. Cole begins with the quirk and edge of a pulp PI, and becomes more like Sir Gawain. Not that he ever loses his quirk, or his edge. He always shares a fun perspective.
If I come across more Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner Joe Pike again, I won't say no.
February 15, 2017
Consolidating:
1) Monkey's Raincoat - Hollywood, LA, CA, PI - 8/13/2001 - 4.15
2) Stalking the Angel - LA, CA, PI - 8/16/2001 - 3.00
3) Lullaby Town - LA, CA, CT, PI - 8/20/2001 - 4.00
---------------------------------------- 3.717
1) Monkey's Raincoat - Hollywood, LA, CA, PI - 8/13/2001 - 4.15
2) Stalking the Angel - LA, CA, PI - 8/16/2001 - 3.00
3) Lullaby Town - LA, CA, CT, PI - 8/20/2001 - 4.00
---------------------------------------- 3.717
August 3, 2019
Not overly keen after the story - second one ok. Enjoyed 3rd more - used to character and more of a page turner. Would I read another Elvia Cole - maybe!
September 23, 2025
I always enjoy the characters humor!
Read
January 4, 2015I LOVE THE PI - ELVIS COLE. LOVE HIM!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews