Michigan, and his story “At the Laundromat” won the 2006 Short Story Contest in the The Seattle Review, a national literary journal. A husband and father, he runs a home-inspection business in Milwaukee. His novels in the Peter Ash series include The Drifter, winner of the ITW Thriller Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel, Burning Bright, Light It Up, Tear It Down, The Wild One, The Breaker, and The Runaway. His latest novel in the series is The Price You Pay.
At CrimeReads Petrie tagged four novels that "were not only some of my favorites in each series, they’re also standouts in excellence that showcase how series writers can really shine by breaking their own rules." One title on the list:
Robert Crais – The Watchman (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #11)Read about the other entries on the list.
The first books in this excellent series were focused on Elvis Cole. Joe Pike had a strong and distinctive presence, but the early novels were primarily from Elvis’s point of view. L.A. Requiem was a departure from that model, featuring combined first- and third-person points of view, and it rocketed Crais into the very top tier of crime writers.
I loved L.A. Requiem, but for me, the book that really redefined the series was The Watchman. For my money, it’s the first true Joe Pike book. I already knew Crais had serious chops, but this book really knocked my socks off, even on my third read. The voice and tone are entirely different from the early Elvis novels, and Crais puts the reader in Joe Pike’s head and heart in an utterly convincing way.
After this book, the series was never the same – in the best way.
--Marshal Zeringue
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