I have to say, I just love reading novels by Robert Crais.

[Lex]

Are they going to appear on Oprah's book club list? No, absolutely not. They are by and large just smartly written crime novels.

This about one of his books, L.A. Requiem:

Larger and deeper in scope, Publishers Weekly wrote of L. A. Requiem, "Crais has stretched himself the way another Southern California writer—Ross Macdonald—always tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base." Booklist added, "This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience.

He's one of my favorite authors for this sort of reading.

The books: http://www.robertcrais.com/novels_order.htm
About the author: http://www.robertcrais.com/bio.htm

Cheers!
Lex

[getting old in mke]

1. Guest of Honor at Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis

September 15-18. http://bouchercon2011.com/

I've been to his readings/signings a number of time and he does just a beautiful job. Of course he thinks that Joe Pike would take Jack Reacher, but otherwise seems a pretty sane guy...

The only problem is his books go away at the same rate as, say, Robert Parker's Spenser books--that is, one sitting.

[Suich]

5. My money's on Jack Reacher! n/t

[proudlib8134]

7. I agree

[Mz Pip]

13. I dunno

Win in the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Cobin is about as badass as they come.

[fadedrose]

11. But I really disliked Bosch's wife; glad he finally did her in.... nt

[pnorman]

2. Audible.com has about 2 dozen books by him,

and that book seems to be 8th in about 12 of a series. I'm generally leery of getting into a lengthy series, particularly if it isn't the beginning book. But I'll assume that he's as good a writer as you seem to feel he is, so which do you recommend reading (listening to) first?

[Lex]

3. Start with the first one,

then if you don't like him, you don't have to read any more. There's a list in my OP that shows them in order.

[pnorman]

4. Done! It's in the Cart.

I notice that there's an abridged version also available, at the same price but about 2 hours shorter. No way.

The title piqued my curiosity. I recall seeing in Japan some well known sketches (Haiga?) of a monkey caught in the rain, clad in a peasant's straw raincoat (mimo) and looking pretty damn miserable!

[fadedrose]

9. Start with the first

I do think that the first dozen or so are among the best I've read by anybody...

The standalone, The Two Minute Rule remains one of my favorites, a different type of crime story..

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. Good Lord, I'm always looking for a new author.

I'll start at the begining but I always buy paperbacks from the used book store. I simply read too much to pay full price and I like the feel of a real book though I can download them to my i-pad. I have a numbeer of books on my i-pad but unless I'm on an airplane, I don't much see the point.

[fadedrose]

10. My library is free and has all the Crais books

Look up your library website and use it. Best thing I ever did, ever.

[fadedrose]

8. One of my top 5

I read every one of his novels and someday may read them again. I see where I missed The Sentry, so thanks for reminding me of Crais and will have to get it real soon. I especially love the Elvis Cole Series, but his standalones were good too.

R

[Mz Pip]

12. I just finished the first one

and I loved it. I'm going to work my way through the series on order.

I love his partner and his beer drinking cat.