I'm Luke Foster

Let’s talk about a couple writers whose work I like but I haven’t read much of yet. The first is Robert Crais, primarily known for the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series of detective thrillers. Cole is a wisecracking PI, and Pike is his mysterious, tough-guy best friend. On the surface it would be easy to think that Cole and Pike are just LA-based knockoffs of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser and Hawk. But the similarities don’t extend much past that surface. While Parker’s characters exist in almost a stasis, Crais’ evolve and grow and have to deal with events that have permanent consequences. Also, while Parker never explored Hawk in his own book, Crais has taken a few to explore what makes his mercenary tick.

(I probably don’t have to tell you this if you’ve read this blog for a little while, but I’m not knocking Parker’s writing, just pointing out the differences.

While Crais wrote seven Cole and Pike novels before L.A. Requiem, it is this eighth book that was recommended to me as a good starting point. Crais apparently hit his groove with this one, and it really stood out from the previous books. I have yet to read those early books, but I do intend to sooner rather than later.

The other writer is Elmore Leonard. Some people might be surprised to know that most of his library hasn’t made it to my list yet. There’s a good chance that the film and TV adaptations of Leonard’s work are better known than his novels, since “Get Shorty,” Justified,” and Jackie Brown” are all three popular adaptations of his work. But Leonard’s prolific career in novels and short stories is nothing to sneeze at. His 45 books and numerous short stories displayed his gritty storytelling and keen ear for dialogue, and he certainly didn’t waste a word when he didn’t need to.

I’ve only read a smattering of Leonard’s books (Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, Freaky Deaky, and one or two others I just can’t remember), I certainly plan to rectify that soon. I certainly have plenty to choose from.

Do you remember when I made goals to finish reading Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels and reread all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books? Well, I got through all of Bond in September and read my last unread Spenser novel earlier this week. What did I learn? My big takeaway from the Bond books is they were even more sexist and racist than I remember them, as much a product of Fleming’s as they were of the times. As for the Spenser books, Parker was certainly more willing to play around in his early books than later on. That said, I haven’t read most of those books in a good long while, so maybe I’ll make that a reading challenge someday. Of course, I already have plenty lined up for next year. I’ll get to that, and everything else I read this year, in another post.