Indigo Slam (The Elvis Cole)

Readers who complain that there's too much wisecracking and cute icon worship in Robert Crais's books about Los Angeles private eye Elvis Cole will be glad to find these traits downplayed (but not totally disappeared) in this story about Cole's search for a missing printer whose specialty is funny money. The book is centered by the presence of the printer's three children--especially the motherly 15-year-old Teri and the obnoxious 12-year-old Charles--who hire Elvis from the phone book. Cole, hoping to become the stepfather of the son of his own lady love, gets sucked in by the children's combination of need and family unity, and soon finds himself in the middle of a shooting war between Russian gangsters, Vietnamese patriots, and ambiguous Federal agents. Previous Elvis outings in paperback: Sunset Express, Free Fall, Lullaby Town, The Monkey's Raincoat, Stalking the Angel, Voodoo River.