LaBrava by Leonard Elmore

Given that EC Don is such a fan of Elmore, I was surprised to find that he had reviewed four other Elmore books, but not this one. This is my first, but clearly not my last Elmore. The main character is Joe LaBrava, a former cop and now a photographer. The story is about a wealthy older guy Maurice Zola, who is a retired connected bookmaker and Jean Shaw, a former movie star. The main bad guys, at least the ones you recognize from the outset as being bad guys, are Richard Nobles, an obnoxious Florida backcountry thug, and his apparent associate, Cunno Ray, a Cuban “boat-lifter.” I won’t review the plot, but I liked the pace of the character development, the strong use of dialogue, and the way the plot unfolded. The book uses the plots of the movies from Shaw’s career as the basis of the current intrigue. I had no idea that Elmore was so prolific, so he will always be a good “go to” author in the future.

West Coast Don