When I read THE LAST DETECTIVE, I was struck by how it was as personal to Elvis Cole as L.A. REQUIEM was to Joe Pike.
I hope so. A little boy named Ben Chenier is stolen. When Ben goes missing, it appears he was taken to avenge something Elvis did years ago--

For new readers, we should explain that Lucy Chenier is Elvis Cole's girlfriend, and Ben is her son.
That's right. Through the shock and horror of that event--of having a child in his care disappear--I opened the doors to reveal who Elvis Cole is, what's important to him, and why.

The man under the flashy shirts.
Yeah. The book is about Elvis's commitment to finding the little boy when everyone--even Ben's mother, Lucy--wants him out of it.

How did THE LAST DETECTIVE come about?
In most of the Elvis Cole novels, Elvis tries to reunite or rebuild a family. In rereading the books, I realized that he never approaches these situations like a plodder--you know, your basic wisecracking gumshoe going through the motions just to make a buck. Something deeper seemed to be driving him--something so profound that he risks his career and his life to bring these families together and make them whole--

The three children who hire Elvis to find their father in INDIGO SLAM, and Jennifer Sheridan in FREE FALL, asking Elvis to help her boyfriend--
That's right. I wanted to find out why families are so important to Elvis, and why he takes these situations so personally. In THE LAST DETECTIVE, I show a little of what drives Elvis.

The flashback to Elvis's childhood was so moving--you know, that he could have had a childhood like that.
People are surprising. Everyone--me, you, the person in the car next to yours at the red light--people are so much more than we see.

You make that point in the book.
That's what the book is about. Maybe that's what all my books are about. We are so much more than we show each other--the frumpy old woman at the laundromat, you never guessed she escaped from a concentration camp when she was eight and made her way across Europe; your tenth grade math teacher, the schlubby man with wrinkled clothes and tired eyes, you didn't know he worked three jobs because his wife was battling pancreatic cancer. People have depth, and that depth should be respected.

In L. A. REQUIEM, you showed us glimpses into Joe Pike's background, and it made Joe so much more real to me.
The earlier books looked outward, but L. A. REQUIEM and now THE LAST DETECTIVE look inward. Little by little, I'm peeling back the layers that cover Elvis and Joe.

Revealing their demons?
Well, you could use that word, 'demons.' I'm exploring the histories that forged them, and I hope those histories are resonant and honest.

I recall reading an interview you did when L. A. REQUIEM was published that you were concerned you might have revealed too much about Joe Pike.
I was concerned how readers would react to knowing those things about Joe's childhood. I had presented Joe through the books as this--how would you describe him?--this consummate force of nature, but here he was revealed as a fearful and brutalized child. To me, he could not have become the man he is without having been the child he was. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong in my apprehension. I got tons of mail after L.A. REQUIEM was published, and it was so moving, just incredibly moving letters from people, basically telling me that they loved him all the more.

I have to tell you, just as Joe's childhood surprised and touched me, the scene in THE LAST DETECTIVE between Elvis and his mother, the one where he asks about his father, that scene made me cry.
Thank you, good. You know, the whole point of doing this--writing--is to touch people. So thanks. That's good to hear.

So how about the flashbacks in THE LAST DETECTIVE? Are you worried you told us too much about Elvis?
No, not really. I was more concerned that the flashbacks resonate with the present-day story. I wrote more backstory than appears in the book. I cut almost eighty pages of flashback scenes.

Can I read them???
Maybe. Two or three of them would stand up as short stories.

Why did you cut those scenes?
Because the story is about Elvis trying to find a little boy. Finding this child has to be the most important thing in the book, and all the novel's energy must turn to that end. For example, I had a forty-five page flashback of Elvis running away to join a carnival when he was a kid. Great scene, but ultimately I felt it sidetracked the story. That happens. You write something, you maybe even think it's the best thing you've ever written, but if it doesn't serve the story, then you have to suck it up and shoot the bulldog.

'Shoot the bulldog.' What a charming expression.
Words are my business.

Have you sold the film rights to THE LAST DETECTIVE?
No. Elvis and Joe aren't for sale.

When will THE LAST DETECTIVE be in stores?
February 18, 2003.

Thanks, RC.
Da nada.

For more information on THE LAST DETECTIVE, click here.

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