Discussion: Caryl-Ann reported on Robert Crais, the author of The Monkey's Raincoat. He is a born adventurer. At the age of 15 he joined a circus. After his return home he attended and graduated from Louisiana State University. In 1977, at the tender age of 24, he got married and became a full-time writer. We can only speculate about the connection, if any, between the two events. He lives in Santa Monica with his wife Pat and their daughter as well as an Akita guard dog. He is an active marksman, acrobatic pilot, gourmet cook, long-distance runner, and collecter of Ojbets d'Arts. He wrote for the TV series JAG, LA Law, Cagney and Lacey, Miami Vice, Quilncey, and Baretta. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1981, for Hill St. Blues, and received a Certificate of Commendation from the "American Women in Radio and Television" in the same year. The Monkey's Raincoat was his first novel. Published as a Bantam throwaway paperback in 1987, it won the Anthony and Macavity awards, became an overnight success and a "collectible". His style was labeled "paramilitary," his characters are quirky and his dialog funny. His protagonist, Elvis Cole, is a lovable, resourceful, intelligent, compassionate private investigator who is also a "clown". Crais described Elvis as the man he tries to be. Crais has been compared to Chandler and Parker. His locale is Southern California. An L.A. skyline decorates the beginning of each chapter in the book, which was reprinted in the Doubleday "Perfect Crime Series" in 1993. Other titles followed in quick succession at the steady rate of a book a year: Stalking the Angel (1989), Lullaby Town (1992), Jungleland and Free Fall (1993), Voodoo River (1995), Sunset Express (1996), Indigo Slam (1997), Devil's Cantina and L.A. Requiem (1990).
The Buffs concurred with the critics. Everybody loved the characters of Elvis and his partner, Joe Pike, found Elvis funny, sensitive and resourceful, the other characters interesting, colorful and wll fleshed-out, the action fast-paced and the tension well maintained. The relevance of the title was pondered and appears to be still somewhat doubtful. Caryl-Ann likened the disasters that befell the protagonists to a torrential rain-shower, necessitating a raincoat even for a monkey, as suggested by the quote in the beginning of the book.