Sunset Express: Signed

When a wealthy entrepreneur is accused of murdering his girlfriend in Los Angeles, wisecracking private eye Elvis Cole is hired to prove that the evidence was tampered with and becomes suspicious about the defense attorney's motivations. Tour.

The public's readiness to believe the worst of its police forces is an undercurrent in the latest case (after Voodoo River) for Southern California PI Elvis Cole. Beginning with the discovery of a corpse off Mulholland Drive in suburban L.A., the plot uncovers high-level venality, advances the romance of the ever-engaging Cole with Louisiana lawyer Lucy Chenier and reveals some of the past of Joe Pike, Cole's enigmatic, seriously strange sidekick. Soon after the body of Susan Martin is found in a garbage bag, Detective Angela Rossi discovers evidence that implicates the victim's husband, wealthy mover and shaker Teddy Martin. Unfortunately, Rossi is under a cloud, having been accused of falsifying evidence in a previous case. Martin's attorney, Jonathan Green, considered one of the country's top five criminal defense attorneys, hires Cole after arriving at his office with a video and sound crew, to investigate Rossi. Though Cole's investigation clears Rossi, Green's subsequent announcement that Cole has proven her guilt, puts the PI at odds with the LAPD, forces him to examine Green's motives in the case and, finally, puts him on a course to correct the series of wrongs in the case that have prompted Lucy to observe: "The law is not about justice." $150,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

LAPD Detective Angela Rossi says she recovered the hammer that killed Susan Martin from her husband's shrubbery, but Teddy Martin's lawyer, Jonathan Green, says Rossi planted it there, and hires Elvis Cole (Voodoo River, 1995, etc.) to find holes in her story. For once, though, Elvis is stymied. Though LeCedrick Earle insists Rossi set him up too five years ago, Earle's own mother tells Cole he can't be trusted; and there's no other evidence that Rossi's rotten. So Cole, still working with the Big Green Defense Team, turns to following up callers to Green's hotline, and this time he hits the jackpot much too fast: A witness puts him on to a pair of lowlifes who talked about kidnapping some rich bitch and had photos of Susan Martin in their apartment. Only trouble is, the lowlifes have been dead for three weeks. It's a setup, of course, and Cole, already disoriented by the adoring media attention he's been getting ever since breaking open the case against Martin, now finds himself switching sides to go up--along with his sunglassed sidekick Joe Pike and his newest belle Lucy Chenier--against Martin, Green, and Co. But Green isn't a lawyer for nothing; he knows every trick about distancing himself and his client from the crime by avoiding incriminating papers and shredding incriminating witnesses. How is Cole ever going to bag such a slick pair? That's the question, sports fans, and if Cole's answer isn't quite as satisfying as he'd like, he has as grand a time as Travis McGee fighting the forces of evil. Crais's sixth is one of his smoothest. ($150,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

If Spenser and Hawk are the forefathers of the double-tough-guy mysteries, then Crais' Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are among their most notable offspring. Here Elvis is hired by high-profile attorney Jonathan Green to investigate the death of Susan Martin, wife of megamillionaire Teddy Green. The defense is basing its case on the Mark Fuhrman^-like theory that evidence was planted at the scene by Detective Angela Rossi, a fallen star in the LAPD who could use a celebrity conviction as her ticket back to the fast track. Elvis and Joe are pleased when their efforts show Rossi worked by the book, but attorney Green puts his own spin on the data. When the people Elvis contacted begin dying, he senses something is terribly wrong. This hip, funny, and thought-provoking novel will delight Crais' growing legion of fans, and the fist-shaking, high-fiving conclu sion offers at least the hope of ultimate justice when our system fails. Wes Lukowsky