Chasing Darkness

Chasing Darkness is a 2008 detective novel by Robert Crais. It is the twelfth in a series of linked novels centering on the private investigator Elvis Cole. It was nominated for the Best Mystery Award by the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association.

Plot summary

In the midst of a hillside fire caused by the Santa Ana Winds, police and fire department personnel rush door-to-door to evacuate local residents. They discover the week-old corpse of an apparent gunshot suicide. In the victim's lap, however, is a photo album of seven brutally murdered young women -- one per year, for seven years. The suicide victim, Lionel Byrd, was the former suspect in one of those murders, a female prostitute named Yvonne Bennett. Arrested by L.A.P.D., a taped confession coerced by the detectives inspired a prominent defense attorney to take Byrd's case, and Elvis Cole was hired to investigate. Cole's eleventh-hour discovery of an exculpatory videotape allowed Lionel Byrd to be set free. Elvis was hailed as a hero.

But the discovery of the 'death album' in Byrd's possession changes everything. To all appearances, the 'World's Greatest Detective' was an unwitting accomplice to murder. Only the murderer could have such gruesome material. Yvonne Bennett was the fifth of the seven victims -- two more young women were murdered after Lionel Byrd walked. Elvis Cole, along with his partner Joe Pike, set out to discover if he cost two more young women their lives by having the real killer released from custody. Even so, the pair are shutout by a special L.A.P.D. task force investigating the case, seemingly determined to close it. Elvis and Joe desperately fight to uncover what actually happened with Lionel Byrd and the string of serial murder victims, and why L.A. power brokers and police want to sweep it all under the rug without finding the truth behind it all.