Elvis is back! That’s Elvis Cole, not Elvis Presley. Cole recently returned in Robert Crais’ new detective novel “Chasing Darkness”.

“Chasing” is the 12th installment in the Cole series and features Cole in the primary role with Joe Pike as his back-up.

The new selection deals with an alleged serial killer who is now a suicide. With a fresh look at the serial killer scenario, Los Angeles private detective Cole finds that he is in a position of possibly having helped this killer in committing two additional murders of innocent women. Cole turns to his support team as he deals with the emotional problems which could have made him responsible for the deaths. While the detective tome focuses on characters and solving crimes, Crais has taken the reader into the human mind, exploring motives of society and culture, which creates an additional dimension to the “whodunit.” Readers will again be on the edge their seats as they “help” Cole investigate.

Beginning with his first Elvis Cole book, “The Monkey’s Raincoat”, in 1987, Crais, who was previously a television scriptwriter for Hill Street Blues, has used first-person narration to place the reader directly in the action. Book lovers will notice that as the world changes that Cole uses modern technology. He and Joe Pike coordinate their movements using cell phones, and Cole also mentions his blog.

Crais has so far resisted movie or TV deals for the Cole/Pike duo, stating that he wants to keep the special relationship that his readers share with his characters unique. Individual readers have their own concept of how Cole and Pike look.

Besides the Cole series, Crais has also authored other novels, including “Demolition Angel,” “Hostage,” and “The Two-Minute Rule.”