The Crime Scene: Chasing Darkness, Finding Light

A situation that reviewers (or critics, if you want to get all uppity about it) confront that other readers don't: As a fan of a certain author, you are delighted to see a new title at your local bookstore. You get it, read it, probably enjoy it, and enhance your pleasure by recommending it to friends and acquaintances (presuming you are fortunate enough to have readers in your circle).

A reviewer gets to recommend it to lots of people. But here's the tricky part. Once you confess that you are a fan of the author, can you be relied upon to give a fair critique of the book? Furthermore, should you be reviewing it in the first place, since critical judgments may well be hampered by the already admitted fandom?

I will make a confession, one to which I've alluded in the past. There are a number of mystery, crime, and suspense writers of whom I am an unabashed fan. It's a fairly large number, and many of their names can be deduced by the fact that I review many of their books, and almost always in a very positive way.

It is my optimistic hope in selecting a book to read that I will like it, and I'd rather help spread positive words than negative ones. After all, this is a genre I like, for several reasons, some of which are too complex to examine here.

All this is a windy preamble to put into context the gushing praise I'm about to heap upon the new novel by Robert Crais, "Chasing Darkness" (Simon & Schuster, 273 pages, $25.95).

Few writers of the present time, or of the past, have produced such a consistently high level of work as Mr. Crais. His books feature wonderful plots, interesting new characters and beloved recurring figures, perfectly pitched dialogue that cannot fail to make a reader laugh, and that final bonus, that little step up that separates the very good from the great — the ability to bring a poignant tear to the eye without wallowing in maudlin overkill. Oh, and one of the only cats in the history of literature that I wouldn't mind having in my lap.

Although most of Mr. Crais's books feature Los Angeles private eye Elvis Cole, every book is different, and "Chasing Darkness" continues that admirable achievement.

After a genuinely chilling prologue, the story begins with the police calling on Cole to tell him that a guy arrested for murdering a young woman, allegedly proved innocent by the PI, was in fact a serial killer with four previous victims notched on his belt, and that, after he was released, the man murdered twice again.

Cole doesn't believe he could have made a mistake, having had irrefutable hard evidence to force the prisoner's release. When contrary evidence seems infallible, and he is publicly pilloried for helping a bad guy get away with a heinous crime, the only thing that can cheer him up is a phone call from Lucy, the woman he loves but who has moved far away, the kind of woman whose smile he can feel from a distance of 2,000 miles. Cole's friend Joe Pike had called to tell her that Elvis needed her ear. Elvis misses her and, as she was an important part of many of the early books in the series, so do Mr. Crais's readers.

Like Spenser, Harry Bosch, and a modest handful of individualistic detective heroes, Cole is a guy with a good heart. He's tough without being uber-macho. When his office is thoroughly trashed, he just gets on with his day. "You let something like a vandalized office screw your day, pretty soon you're calling in sick for a pimple." But when he gets into a fight, he bleeds, bruises, and hurts. When he sees a family shattered by the death of a daughter, he wants to cry.

Surprises come in waves in "Chasing Darkness," and if you read for plot (always a good place to start), you will like it. If prose that is a model of clarity and, often, elegance is important, you will like it a lot. If great characters are your thing, you will love this book. If honorable moral vision matters, you will be a Robert Crais (and Elvis Cole) fan forever.

Cole explains his job like this: "I chase the darkness to make room for the light." It has the ring of a sound philosophical basis for a way to live one's life.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories. He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.