Ivan Monk Mysteries
4 primary works
Book 1
The body of a murdered Korean liquor store owner is unearthed at the intersection of Florence and Normandie. Against a background of increasing racial tension, black private eye Ivan Monk searches for the killer. Then another body turns up. And while the BI and the Rolling Daltons, the largest gang in the city, dog his trail, Monk questions whether there's more than mere murder happening. Questions that wealthy power broker Maxfield O'Day may have the answers to.
Monk is propelled towards a conclusion that may foment another Violent Spring in the tarnished City of Angels.
Book 2
Hired for next-to-nothing by an unwed teenage mother, L.A. PI Ivan Monk assumes little can be done to find the killers of petty thief Scatterboy Williams. But more young men are gunned down, and Monk, sherrif's deputies, and members of a community in need of hope are now looking for a serial killer with a bleached face. Events take the detective on the road to Perdition, a town in the Pacific Northwest. He encounters a crucible of skinhead activity, both supremacist and multi racial. Then a white's rights rally leads to a riot. Amid the chaos Monk uncovers larger political machinations which take him back to L.A. to confront manipulators willing to destroy any who stand in the way of their cause.
Book 3
Summer in L.A and the heat is building in the Rancho Tajuata Housing Projects. Racial tension and gang violence spiral out of control when three members of a Mexican family, including a little girl, are killed by a firebombing. The pressure is on to solve the case quickly and Ivan Monk is called in to track down the killer, but in doing so he delves back into the tangled history of the Watts riots, revealing layers of corruption and racism. Monk finds himself at odds with the police, disillusioned with his mentor and under indictment for murder after a fierce struggle with some gang members. Now Monk must race to clear his name before time runs out and a bad night falls on the projects...this time for good.
Book 4
