Private Investigator Elvis Cole

Elvis Cole was first introduced by author Robert Crais in his novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat. This mystery novel won the Macavity Award and the Anthony for Best First Novel in 1987, and was also nominated for an Edgar Award. The character of Elvis Cole impressed the literary community so much that The Monkey's Raincoat was selected as one of the 100 Most Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Elvis Cole’s career was originally slated to only last until the end of last chapter of The Monkey’s Raincoat. His detective style appealed so much to mystery readers that Stalking the Angel and Lullaby Town, two more Elvis Cole books, were written. Some say that it’s the combination of Cole and his sidekick Joe Pike that led to the popularity of the novels. Cole believes himself to be the world’s greatest detective, so it is doubtful that he would agree that the mysterious Joe Pike, USMC veteran, contributes to his success.

Although Cole is accomplished in Tai Kwon Do and other martial arts, he wisely is connected to others who contribute greatly to his detective work. For example there’s Sgt. Joe Poitras of LAPD’s homicide division, who has access to a wealth of police information. His latest story is recorded in the pages of Chasing Darkness. The overly self confident detective is humbled in this novel when he helps free a man who appears to have turned out to be a serial killer.

Cole and his friend Joe Pike have been in the news recently when his creator filed a suit against Activision for using these characters in the video game True Crime: Streets of LA.