>>>>Bonnie, seriously, no problem. I have regretted books before.
>>>>
>>>>Since I like recommending writers so much, the guy I am on now is Johathan Tropper. He reminds me of me, only a better writer.
>>>
>>>For the record I finally managed to gather up and, as of today, finish all the Elvis Cole and or Joe Pike books. I don't remember whether it was you or Tracy who recommended them, but thanks.
>>>
>>
>>It could have been me. I hope you didn't speed read them too much to miss that they are same books <g>. Elvis Cole is a good character but when Pike shows up the books kick into overdrive. The forward pointing red arrows tattooed on his shoulders are such a perfect detail.
>>
>>Clete Purcel in the Dave Robicheux books (James Lee Burke) is a similar character. Burke gets a little preachy but Clete is a keeper.
>>
>>Last night both my daughters were gone and I went back to the classics. Raymond Chandler. He invented a genre, the hard boiled L.A. private eye story. He has often been imitated but never matched.
>>
>>From the first page of "The Lady in the Lake" ---
>>
>>"A neat little blonde sat off in a far corner at a small PBX, behind a railing and well out of harm's way. At a flat desk in line with the doors was a tall, lean, dark-haired lovely whose name, according to the tilted embossed plaque on her desk, was Miss Adrienne Fromsett.
>>
>>"She wore a steel gray business suit and under the jacket a dark blue shirt and a man's tie of lighter shade. The edges of the folded handkerchief in the breast pocket looked sharp enough to slice bread. She wore a linked bracelet and no other jewelry. Her dark hair was parted and fell in loose but not unstudied waves. She had a smooth ivory skin and rather severe eyebrows and large dark eyes that looked as if they might warm up at the right time and in the right place."
>>
>>Has a femme fatale ever been introduced better?
>
>His writing style - that prose - is very similar to another author, but who? I can't think of who it is right now, but it is definitely familiar... just goes to show I've read too many books! :o)

My first guess would be Lawrence Block. Which reminds me, let's not forget his "Bernie Rhodenbarr" burglar series. They're great.