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Cooper MacLeish

kevinburtonsmith

Created by Sam Reaves
Pseudonyms include Dominic Martell

“It was a long way to fall, a very long fall through the cold night air, and she fell the whole way without making a sound. At the end there was a sound, a sudden sick sound, but after a minute of stillness no one had come to see what made it. All the way down, all through the long journey from high in the night air to the last precious inch above the ground, she had possessed lungs that breathed, a heart that beat, and a mind that knew. The moment of her death was the longest of her life. After the fall she lay still, slowly growing as cold as the earth. Cars passed near her but nobody looked. High above her a light burned”
—  A Long Cold Fall

A Long Cold Fall (1991) was an excellent debut for what has turned out to be a really good series. Added to this it boasts in the above what is, arguably, a contender for one of the best starts to a book/series yet written. Reading and re-reading it never fails to induce a shiver down the spine. Drawn into investigating the suspicious death of his ex-wife, Chicago cabbie COOPER MacLEISH also has to come to terms with his relationship with his son who has been lost to him through his own neglect.

MacLeish seemed to come out of nowhere. Hardened by his past — as a Vietnam Vet as much as anything — Cooper survives driving a cab and not getting involved. Hard but principled, its not long before he has to make his stand.

Reading the first makes you want to read more. Fortunately the series continues to maintain the standard set by its opening. Fear Will Do It (1992) has MacLeish trying to help an ex-girlfriend extradite herself from being blackmailed. Bury It Deep (1993) mires Cooper in political corruption and murder. Get What’s Coming (1995) involves the death of his boss’s son. When the police assume it’s another drug deal gone wrong, Cooper thinks otherwise and the inevitable trouble follows.

MacLeish has been praised by Robert. B. Parker as “too good to be true, ” and that “Sam Reaves is too good. He makes me nervous.” He may have almost sprung out of nowhere but Cooper MacLeish is well worth a visit. A worthy addition to the ranks of crime-solving cabbies such as John K. Butler’s Steve Midnight and Mike Ripley’s Fitzroy Maclean Angel .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam Reaves has written crime novels including the Cooper MacLeish series, the Dooley series, about a family of cops, and the stand-alones Mean Town Blues and Cold Black Earth, as well as the true crime memoir Mob Cop with Fred Pascente. As Dominic Martell he has penned a series of geopolitical thrillers featuring Pascual Rose, an ex-terrorist trying to go straight. Reaves has traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East but has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He has worked as a teacher and a translator.

UNDER OATH

NOVELS

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Peter Walker, with updates by Kevin Burton Smith.

 

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