With CHASING DARKNESS, Robert Crais confirms that the Elvis Cole we have known and loved all these years is back with us. It was iffy there for a while.

Following several inventive and popular novels — featuring the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Detective” who favors Hawaiian shirts and disarms villains with a wisecrack more often than a punch or a gun — Crais dredged up ugly events from his main characters’ past. First with Joe Pike, Cole’s stoic ex-cop partner, in 1999’s L.A. REQUIEM. Then Cole himself in 2003’s THE LAST DETECTIVE. The tone was darker, but the results impressive. Crais proved that Cole and company could move us, as well as entertain and amuse.

But then things went seriously wrong in 2006’s THE FORGOTTEN MAN. Suddenly, Cole seemed overcome with angst to the point of maudlin. And the entire novel, although competent and effectively written, seemed cold and hollow. For many readers, it seemed like Elvis had indeed left the building.

Then Crais put Cole on hold and produced the suspenseful stand-alone, THE TWO MINUTE RULE, also from 2006. This was followed a year later by THE WATCHMAN, the first novel to feature Pike in a starring role. Cole played second banana here; even though his appearance was brief, he seemed refreshed and invigorated. It was an encouraging sign. Because, really, how much angst can you accept from a guy who cherishes the Pinocchio wall clock and Mickey Mouse phone in his office?

It’s fire season in Southern California as this new novel opens, and two cops are conducting a door-to-door evacuation of houses in the fabled Laurel Canyon area. In one house, they discover the body of a man, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. But in the dead man’s lap is a photo album containing snapshots of women who have been tortured and killed.

The man is identified as Lionel Byrd, who was previously brought to trial for the murder of a female prostitute. Cole was hired by Byrd’s attorney to further investigate the accusation and uncovered a videotape that proved Byrd’s innocence. But the murdered prostitute is one of the seven dead women in Byrd’s photo album, and two women were killed after Byrd was set free. A police task force pounces on Cole and his files, and Cole is left with the sickening feeling that he might be responsible for the death of two women.

But as Cole revives his own investigation, he immediately finds himself shut out from the task force which seems hell-bent to blame Byrd for all seven murders and close the case. He has to rely on the help and devotion of his friends (mostly characters from previous novels) to get much of the essential details. Eventually, Cole can’t determine if the police are discovering evidence or covering it up. Such doubts, with their hints of political corruption, and their resulting plot twists are part of the appeal of this series. And Crais leads Cole through several until the final unanticipated twist reveals the truth about the case.

It feels as if Crais himself is glad to have the old Elvis back. The writing throughout is crisp, witty, and tight. And the pacing rarely lags as Cole pursues witnesses and evidence from one end of Los Angeles County to the other.

The events remains entirely in the present, without the long and often disruptive flashbacks of the last few Cole novels. And, similar to many of the earlier books, the perspective stays mostly with Cole’s first-person narration. The third chapter, however, suggests a shifting of perspective as Crais reintroduces Carol Starkey, the former bomb squad investigator now assigned to homicide work. It’s a bit jarring, but then Crais immediately returns to and stays with Cole.

CHASING DARKNESS doesn’t break any more new ground for the series, but it reassures us of what Crais and Cole do so well: solid, reliable characters;, a evocative and varied Southern California ambiance; plenty of action; and a story that keeps us happily reading to the end. —Alan Cranis

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