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Sheriff Milt Kovak #1
The Man In The Green Chevy
Chief Deputy Milt Kovak of Prophesy County, Oklahoma Sheriff's Department had a rapist and murderer on his hands. To make the whole thing really stink, the victims were little old ladies, the nice cookie-baking, sweater-knitting kind.
His prime witness is Mrs. Laura Johnson-about thirty-five, three kids, and absentee husband-the sexiest woman Milt had ever seen. She'd identified a man in a green Chevy emerging from the murder scene. Find that man, he figured, find the killer.
Between digging unsuccessfully for leads and fighting-equally unsuccessfully-his growing attraction for the warm and inviting Laura, Milt figures the only solution is a new line of work. But Milt Kovak's not the kind of guy to take the easy way out-not when there's a crazed killer waiting eagerly to help him.
His prime witness is Mrs. Laura Johnson-about thirty-five, three kids, and absentee husband-the sexiest woman Milt had ever seen. She'd identified a man in a green Chevy emerging from the murder scene. Find that man, he figured, find the killer.
Between digging unsuccessfully for leads and fighting-equally unsuccessfully-his growing attraction for the warm and inviting Laura, Milt figures the only solution is a new line of work. But Milt Kovak's not the kind of guy to take the easy way out-not when there's a crazed killer waiting eagerly to help him.
218 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Susan Rogers Cooper
45 books27 followersSusan Rogers Cooper is an American mystery novelist. A self-proclaimed "half fifth generation Texan; half Yankee", she sets her novels in Texas (the E.J. Pugh and Kimmey Kruse novels) and in Oklahoma (the Sheriff Milt Kovak novels). She is currently living in Central Texas, coming up with fresh new ways to get her characters into trouble.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 19, 2011
Milt Kovak is a wonderful character. In this book (the first of the series) he is an Oklahoma deputy sheriff. Middle aged, slightly overweight, aware of his flaws, but also caring and compassionate. Someone is brutalizing and killing elderly ladies and Milt is trying to find the killer. He is also in the middle of a divorce. His wife of 24 years left him and he's not sure why.
October 21, 2022
This is definitely a mystery from the noir end of the pool.
May 17, 2012
Although a fairly average mystery, this was definitely grittier than your typical cozy mystery. I don't mind a little more grit in a story but it was a rape/murder plot, something I just don't enjoy reading. There was also a small sideline story of child molestation thrown in as well! (shudder) Plus, the language was pretty rough. I thought about not finishing, but as the first in a series the basic outline of the main character had potential and that interested me. Unfortunately, I found him less and less likable as the book progressed until by the last chapter, I didn't like him at all! This is one series I'll pass.
June 29, 2015
Good first novel by Cooper. Middle-aged, slightly overweight, deputy must figure out who is raping and killing old ladies. Meanwhile he is recovering from a broken 24-year marriage. Well-paced with a twist at the end. Recommended to fans of mysteries.
December 6, 2012
I enjoyed reading this light mystery after reading J.K. Rowling latest book. Even though I figured out who did it there was a twist in the end.
September 12, 2026
A note before the plot: this book includes the rape and strangulation of elderly women and an explicit affair.
The Man in the Green Chevy is Susan Rogers Cooper’s 1988 debut, a short first-person mystery of about 186 pages from St. Martin’s Press, and the opening book in a 14-title Milt Kovak series that runs through Best Served Cold in 2017. Kovak tells the story. The National Library Service issued an audio edition narrated by Bob Askey, a former Denver contractor.
Laura Johnson is the best thing that has happened to Kovak in years. His divorce becomes final in the book’s early pages, and she walks into his life at almost the same moment. Her influence puts vigor back into a 48-year-old man who fears life has largely passed him by. In this book he is chief deputy and the whole of the one-person homicide unit in the Prophesy County, Oklahoma, Sheriff’s Department. Later books make him sheriff.
Someone is raping and strangling elderly women living alone. One of them is Beatrice Munsky. Cooper keeps the violence inside cozy-mystery bounds. She does not describe the attacks in great detail, and you never learn the killer’s setup or other dark process. The crimes are grim on their own terms. She does not play them for humor.
The book is set in the late 1980s, so there is no DNA and no wireless phone. I have grown so used to modern forensics that when a killer leaves semen on the bed around one victim, my first thought was to take the DNA from that semen and you have your man. I had to bring myself back to 1980s reality in a hurry. In all but one of the rapes, the killer left no semen. None of the victims lived long enough to tell the police what happened.
The morning after the first murder, Laura Johnson, married and mother of three, comes forward. She is Beatrice Munsky’s neighbor, and she says she saw a blond man in a beat-up green Chevy on a little-used road in the neighborhood, a car she had not seen before. That is the title image and Kovak’s one solid lead. He jumps on her story. This is a short book, so it does not take many pages before he jumps on Laura, and she is enthusiastically fine with that. Her husband, Jerry, sells farm machinery and is often away, which leaves the Saturday nights open.
Cooper writes the pair so you understand why they gravitate toward each other. This is real romance for him. He is amazing with her kids even though he never had any of his own. She is in it for the kind of sex she has not had in some time, and at one point she even waxes rhapsodic about Kovak as “a real man.” That sounded mostly like lust fulfillment, not romantic love, and it made me feel sorry for Jerry. A non-walking infant in the house makes it hard to treat her life as a total parched desert. I knew the affair was a bad idea that would go nowhere. I still kept reading and hoping Kovak would see the pitfalls and change course.
I like Kovak. Brand me a prude if you must, but the Saturday-night and Sunday-choir split weakens him as a character. He is eager to exchange body fluids with Laura on a Saturday night and then sing in the Baptist church choir on Sunday. I do not know whether he sang out of tune, but his life certainly seemed to be. I do not worry that the affair itself keeps him from doing the job. It may hint at inner instability that could show up in other ways at work. I am not saying that is inevitable. I am saying it is not impossible, and it is worth keeping an eye on as the series goes on.
Cooper writes this well. The community becomes almost a character as the antics of its residents come into view. While the old women keep dying, the department still handles cattle rustling, local fights, and car crashes. Kovak also steps outside the law, briefly and technically onto the wrong side of it, to move his case along. Those pages add dimension. He is not a cookie-cutter cop. He gets things done even when he has to be creative, and he bends the law to get justice. I wondered whether later books let him keep doing that.
I predicted the outcome early. The book is built that way. The killer slips, and Kovak reaches the answer after the reader. That easy forecast, stacked with the sleazy streak in Kovak’s private life, ratchets this down to three stars. I still plan to read the rest of the series. Kovak pulls me forward. He is essentially a good man whose inner GPS does not always see all the satellites it needs to keep him from taking unfortunate, unnecessary detours, and I want to know how he changes from book to book. These mysteries are short, and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you finish one.
The Man in the Green Chevy is Susan Rogers Cooper’s 1988 debut, a short first-person mystery of about 186 pages from St. Martin’s Press, and the opening book in a 14-title Milt Kovak series that runs through Best Served Cold in 2017. Kovak tells the story. The National Library Service issued an audio edition narrated by Bob Askey, a former Denver contractor.
Laura Johnson is the best thing that has happened to Kovak in years. His divorce becomes final in the book’s early pages, and she walks into his life at almost the same moment. Her influence puts vigor back into a 48-year-old man who fears life has largely passed him by. In this book he is chief deputy and the whole of the one-person homicide unit in the Prophesy County, Oklahoma, Sheriff’s Department. Later books make him sheriff.
Someone is raping and strangling elderly women living alone. One of them is Beatrice Munsky. Cooper keeps the violence inside cozy-mystery bounds. She does not describe the attacks in great detail, and you never learn the killer’s setup or other dark process. The crimes are grim on their own terms. She does not play them for humor.
The book is set in the late 1980s, so there is no DNA and no wireless phone. I have grown so used to modern forensics that when a killer leaves semen on the bed around one victim, my first thought was to take the DNA from that semen and you have your man. I had to bring myself back to 1980s reality in a hurry. In all but one of the rapes, the killer left no semen. None of the victims lived long enough to tell the police what happened.
The morning after the first murder, Laura Johnson, married and mother of three, comes forward. She is Beatrice Munsky’s neighbor, and she says she saw a blond man in a beat-up green Chevy on a little-used road in the neighborhood, a car she had not seen before. That is the title image and Kovak’s one solid lead. He jumps on her story. This is a short book, so it does not take many pages before he jumps on Laura, and she is enthusiastically fine with that. Her husband, Jerry, sells farm machinery and is often away, which leaves the Saturday nights open.
Cooper writes the pair so you understand why they gravitate toward each other. This is real romance for him. He is amazing with her kids even though he never had any of his own. She is in it for the kind of sex she has not had in some time, and at one point she even waxes rhapsodic about Kovak as “a real man.” That sounded mostly like lust fulfillment, not romantic love, and it made me feel sorry for Jerry. A non-walking infant in the house makes it hard to treat her life as a total parched desert. I knew the affair was a bad idea that would go nowhere. I still kept reading and hoping Kovak would see the pitfalls and change course.
I like Kovak. Brand me a prude if you must, but the Saturday-night and Sunday-choir split weakens him as a character. He is eager to exchange body fluids with Laura on a Saturday night and then sing in the Baptist church choir on Sunday. I do not know whether he sang out of tune, but his life certainly seemed to be. I do not worry that the affair itself keeps him from doing the job. It may hint at inner instability that could show up in other ways at work. I am not saying that is inevitable. I am saying it is not impossible, and it is worth keeping an eye on as the series goes on.
Cooper writes this well. The community becomes almost a character as the antics of its residents come into view. While the old women keep dying, the department still handles cattle rustling, local fights, and car crashes. Kovak also steps outside the law, briefly and technically onto the wrong side of it, to move his case along. Those pages add dimension. He is not a cookie-cutter cop. He gets things done even when he has to be creative, and he bends the law to get justice. I wondered whether later books let him keep doing that.
I predicted the outcome early. The book is built that way. The killer slips, and Kovak reaches the answer after the reader. That easy forecast, stacked with the sleazy streak in Kovak’s private life, ratchets this down to three stars. I still plan to read the rest of the series. Kovak pulls me forward. He is essentially a good man whose inner GPS does not always see all the satellites it needs to keep him from taking unfortunate, unnecessary detours, and I want to know how he changes from book to book. These mysteries are short, and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you finish one.
May 5, 2019
An excellent rural thriller, in which the narrator, Milt, is the Sheriff's deputy from an Oklahoma county who is facing a wave of awful crimes.
The plot is good, the main character is exceptional of accuracy and realism, the outcome is pretty well done. The tone of the book is very nice, full of humor, with an atypical and endearing main character.
A very good detective novel with a touch of romance.
The plot is good, the main character is exceptional of accuracy and realism, the outcome is pretty well done. The tone of the book is very nice, full of humor, with an atypical and endearing main character.
A very good detective novel with a touch of romance.
February 3, 2022
I have read nearly all of the books in the Milt Kovak series but realized I had not read the first one. Like in all of Cooper's books in the series, the protagonist is a highly likeable and relatable character. The reading is light & easy and enjoyable throughout. There is a mystery at hand, but don't expect lots of twists & turns as in a thriller. I guessed the ending about midway through.
September 28, 2026
What a fun Reed! The main character is a little offbeat and pretty funny at times. He’s also exasperating! And the book is just a whole lot of fun! I can’t wait to see what happens in the next installment in this series.
April 4, 2020
I didn’t like the cheating, so I shoulda known. The ending sucked.
September 2, 2016
First in a good series
I bought this after reading the second book in the series, "Houston in the Rearview", which was a good book that kept me interested enough to read it in one day.
If you're looking for a plot-driven thriller, this won't satisfy. It's a cozy, meaning that the setting is like a character of its own and no one you know is in any real danger.
"The Man in the Green Chevy" kept me reading to find out what happens, but that was at least partially because I was waiting for the Deus ex machina moment, the magic fix. I figured that that was the only way this story could resolve, at 75%, when Milt Kovak had spent the entire book with his head up his-not doing a bit of investigating or analyzing or even looking at clues. Everything happens when Milt is not around and usually he's doing something he shouldn't be doing.
The magic moment just *happens* to him and he figures out whodunnit by just happening to run into the right person. He does figure it out for himself, and he wraps the case up in a very unconventional way. The end was a good twist.
Milt is a very likable character in what is definitely a character-driven story. With two major exceptions, Milt is a genuinely good person, the kind who helps old ladies rake their lawns. He's a good old boy in the best way with a wry sense of humor that made me laugh a couple times.
I liked Milt a lot and plan to read more of this series.
I bought this after reading the second book in the series, "Houston in the Rearview", which was a good book that kept me interested enough to read it in one day.
If you're looking for a plot-driven thriller, this won't satisfy. It's a cozy, meaning that the setting is like a character of its own and no one you know is in any real danger.
"The Man in the Green Chevy" kept me reading to find out what happens, but that was at least partially because I was waiting for the Deus ex machina moment, the magic fix. I figured that that was the only way this story could resolve, at 75%, when Milt Kovak had spent the entire book with his head up his-not doing a bit of investigating or analyzing or even looking at clues. Everything happens when Milt is not around and usually he's doing something he shouldn't be doing.
The magic moment just *happens* to him and he figures out whodunnit by just happening to run into the right person. He does figure it out for himself, and he wraps the case up in a very unconventional way. The end was a good twist.
Milt is a very likable character in what is definitely a character-driven story. With two major exceptions, Milt is a genuinely good person, the kind who helps old ladies rake their lawns. He's a good old boy in the best way with a wry sense of humor that made me laugh a couple times.
I liked Milt a lot and plan to read more of this series.
November 1, 2014
Predictable. The story is good. I like the style of writing. Older women are being raped and killed. The sheriff Is a down home guy in a small town Oklahoma. He's under pressure to solve the crime, a bit uncertain of himself since his wife left him, attracted to his only witness & her 3 small children the story plows on with bits and pieces of information. I guessed the killer the first quarter of the book, but it's still very good. They discover similar murders in surrounding counties. There are alibi's that do not seem right, and their one good clue came from the young mother who described a driver and green chevy that was heading up the street the day her neighbor elderly died. Enjoyable, easy read.
July 20, 2012
This is the author's first book, set in Oklahoma in a rural/small-town area. The main character is a country cop investigating the strangulation/rape of older women all over the state, but obviously he's mostly interested in solving the local ones. Plus, he's just been divorced and falls (big-time) in love with the only witness, who turns out to be . Pretty easy to figure out whodunnit, but the character is interesting. Wonder if this series went on after this, since this one is 12 years old.
June 6, 2014
This is an older book that I only read as a book for NancyNova's state challenge. It is set in Oklahoma. Someone is raping and murdering old ladies, and it is Milt's job as a deputy to find out who. In the middle of doing this, he has an affair with a married woman, who is supposedly a witness in the case, always a no no. It was a quick read at 218 pages.
July 17, 2014
I very much enjoyed this character and the author's style.
This 1988 book has been republished by the author in ebook format at Amazon and costs 99 cents. The next 3 books in the series are also available there. My hat's off to Susan Rogers Cooper for making this book available in digital format.
This 1988 book has been republished by the author in ebook format at Amazon and costs 99 cents. The next 3 books in the series are also available there. My hat's off to Susan Rogers Cooper for making this book available in digital format.
January 5, 2011
love, love, love Milt
Read
December 3, 2012good, Kovak mystery
March 11, 2015
Good beginning of a series.
May 19, 2016
short debut novel; took me a little while to realize this was set over 30 years ago
October 13, 2018
Human.
Want to Read
November 6, 2018Synopsis: Chief Deputy Kovak of the Oklahoma Sheriff's Department has a murderer on his hands. His witness saw a man in a green Chevy fleeing.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews