L.A. REQUIEM is Robert Crais' eighth novel (published by Doubleday). So where was I when the other seven were published? This lover of detective mystery stories has a name to add alongside Lawrence Block, Robert Parker and Elmo Leonard.

Crais' protagonist, Elvis Cole, is private detective tough with enough testosterone to fill the Grand Canyon. His side-kick is the silent, strong, moody, macho Joe Pike. They make a team of L.A. PIs caught up in a series of murders that envelops their personal and professional lives.

What makes a writer like Crais so effective? His tale is not blazing new trails and the characteristics of his heroes and heavies are not strangers to me. So why does it work? The subtle, internal lives of the various characters make the events more meaningful along with the social commentary and the implicit understanding of this upside down world. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike and the women from whom they emotionally distance themselves are in the great tradition of Chandler, Hammet and others of that classic mode. Crais doesn't emulate these craftsmen; he moves their style into the 90's, the arena being today's L.A. But he writes like a dream, powerful and absorbing.

If you noticed, I am encouraging you to introduce yourself to Crais' L.A. REQUIEM without giving a hint of that novel's content. Why should I deprive you of the roller coaster ride that I relished when I embraced this tale?