Created by J.R. (John) Levitt
For a while there, back in the eighties, I was asking myself “Is this a new trend or what?”
Private eyes in the Land of The Latter Day Saints?
Down these clean streets a Mormon must go?
For a brief shake, it certainly looked like it.
Along with Moroni Traveler and Gabe Utley, there was JASON COULTER, a suitably hard-boiled former Salt Lake City homicide detective, currently living the hopefully more simple life in a small cabin out in the Utah boonies. Just him, his trusty guitar (an old cherry red Gibson ES-355), and his pet cat Stony, in the ski resort town of Alta.
Not exactly downtown Salt Lake city, then, but the shadow of the Mormon Church still falls far and wide. Jason sleuths around in a gray Honda with a bag of burglar tools in the back, smokes Pall Malls, drinks Moosehead beer, listens to jazz, and seems to be on very good terms with most of the Salt Lake City cops. Jason left the force after a particularly nasty case involving a serial killer, related in his debut, Carnivores (1989). He returned as an actual  private detective in 1991’s Ten of Swords.
UNDER OATH
- “Carnivores is a flashy and suspenseful crime story from a new guy on the block who is clearly a writer to watch. This is a fast-moving, compulsive read with an unforgettable climax. You’re going to like this one a lot.”
— Stephen King - “Spare, brutal and disquieting … Anyone who enjoys mysteries, police stories and the grandeur of the Salt Lake Valley and its canyons will enjoy this book.”
— Salt Lake City Tribune on Carnovores
NOVELS
- Carnivores (1989) |Â Buy this book |Â Kindle it!
- Ten of Swords (1991) |Â Buy this book |Â Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
