Robert Crais: The Last Detective (USA 2020)

From the Publisher:
"Stunning... Shrewdly written and sharply plotted... The Last Detective is a rare treat." -- The Washington Post Book World
"Fast-moving... a page-turning thriller." -- Chicago Tribune

P.I. Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained, but it becomes even more tense when the unthinkable happens: While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, the boy vanishes without a trace. When the kidnappers call, it's not for ransom, but for a promise to punish Cole for past sins he claims he didn't commit. With LAPD wrestling over the case and the boy's estranged father attempting to take control of the investigation, Cole vows to find Ben first. But Cole's partner, Joe Pike, knows more about this case than he has said. Pike lives in a world where dangerous men commit crimes beyond all reckoning. Now, one of those men is alive and well in L.A. -- and calling Elvis Cole to war.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective. An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 9780593157176 (January, 2020), 418 p., $9.99.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective (UK 2011)

From the Publisher:
Elvis Cole loves his girlfriend, Lucy, but his job as a PI on the streets of Los Angeles has stretched their relationship to the limit - especially when it brings danger too close to Lucy's beloved son, Ben.

But at last things seem to be getting better, and when Lucy is out of town she leaves Ben in Elvis's care. Then Ben disappears. One minute he's playing on his computer in Elvis's house; the next he has vanished.

Elvis receives a phone call: 'I've got the boy; this is payback.' They don't want money, they want retribution. And Elvis must embark on a journey into his own past if he is to protect his future...

'We can now add the name Crais to the pantheon of great American writers' -- The Sunday Times

Robert Crais: The Last Detective. 48 hours: to clear his name, keep his girl and save a life... Orion Books, ISBN: 9781409136569 (August, 2011), 343 p., £7.99.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective (USA 2004)

From the Publisher:
P.I. Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. Then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son Ben is staying with Elvis, the boy vanishes without a trace. When the kidnappers call, it's not for ransom, but for a promise to punish Cole for past sins he claims he didn't commit. With the LAPD wrestling over the case, and the boy's estranged father attempting to take control of the investigation, Cole vows to find Ben first. But Cole's partner, Joe Pike, knows more about this case than he has said. Pike lives in a world where dangerous men commit crimes beyond all reckoning. Now, one of those men is alive and well in L.A. -- and calling Elvis Cole to war...

Robert Crais: The Last Detective. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 0345451902 (March, 2004), 337 p., $7.99.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
Elvis Cole loves his girlfriend, Lucy, but his job as a PI on the streets of Los Angeles has stretched their relationship to the limit - especially when it brings danger too close to Lucy's beloved son, Ben.

But at last things seem to be getting better, and when Lucy is out of town she leaves Ben in Elvis's care. Then Ben disappears. One minute he's playing on his computer in Elvis's house; the next he has vanished.

Elvis receives a phone call: 'I've got the boy; this is payback.' They don't want money, they want retribution. And Elvis must embark on a journey into his own past if he is to protect his future...

Robert Crais: The Last Detective. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752849492 (September, 2003), 343 p., £5.99.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
'Five-Two, I've got the boy; this is payback'
Elvis Cole is once again coming to terms with his life as a PI on the streets of Los Angeles. He loves his girlfriend, Lucy Chenier, but his constant exposure to the Californian underclasses has stretched their relationship to the limit -- especially when Cole's job brings danger too close to her beloved son. The young boy, Ben Chenier, is rapidly becoming the light in both their lives. Perhaps if Elvis cannot be a father to him, at least he could be a mentor.

But then one sunny afternoon, it appears that the demons from Elvis's past have finally come to visit. Ben is snatched from Cole's secluded home. The kidnappers call. They don't want money. They only want retribution. But who from Elvis's past is capable of such a crime? The only clue is that 'Five-Two' was his unit designation in Vietnam -- a life that he has avoided thinking about for over twenty years. But now he must embark on a journey into his own past to try to protect his future.

For it seems that this kidnapper is not only someone who knows him, but someone who owes him...

Robert Crais: The Last Detective. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752851985 (February, 2003), 302 p., £12.99.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
With his acclaimed bestsellers, Hostage (a New York Times Notable Book) and Demolition Angel, Robert Crais drew raves for his unstoppable pacing, edgy characterizations, and cinematic prose. Now, in The Last Detective, Crais returns to his signature character, Los Angeles private investigator Elvis Cole, in a masterful page-turner that probes the meaning of family and the burdens of the past.

Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained. When she moved from Louisiana to join Elvis in Los Angeles, she never dreamed that violence would so easily touch her life -- but then the unthinkable happens. While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, Ben disappears without a trace. Desperate to believe that the boy has run away, evidence soon mounts to suggest a much darker scenario.

Joining forces with his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, Elvis frantically searches for Ben with the help of LAPD Detective Carol Starkey, as Lucy's wealthy, oil-industry ex-husband attempts to wrest control of the investigation. Amid the maelstrom of personal conflicts, Elvis and Joe are forced to consider a more troubling lead -- one indicating that Ben's disappearance is connected to a terrible, long-held secret from Elvis Cole's past.

Venturing deep inside a complex psyche, Crais explores Elvis's need for family - the military that embraced him during a troubled adolescence, his rock-solid partnership with Pike, and his floundering relationship with Lucy - as they race the clock in their search for Ben. The Last Detective is Robert Crais' richest, most intense tale of suspense yet.

Robert Crais: The Last Detective. An Elvis Cole Novel. Doubleday, ISBN: 0385504268 (February, 2003), 302 p., $24.95.