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Lieutenant Luis Mendoza #29
Cold Trail
Two decades have passed since Dell Shannon first introduced the character of Lt. Luis Mendoza to readers, and no title better explains the strong and steady popularity of both the series and its central figure than COLD TRAIL, a fast-paced, timely and totally involving mystery novel that depicts the current world of crime in a big city with gritty realism and unpredictablility.
Fully seasoned to the anonymous urban violence that is all in a day's work, Lieutenant Mendoza must once again adapt his mode of operation to a chilling sequence of senseless crimes. As Cold Trail opens, a murderous rapist and child molester is loose in the streets; an unidentified female body is found under a condemned house in a decaying section of the city; a thug is shot to death and a chain of robberies continues unabated--all without a clue.
Mendoza and his colleagues in the Robery and Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department follow what appears to be a cold trail until, through meticulous detective work and routine persistence, the men bring this set of mysteries to its conclusion.
Veteran admireers and newcomers to the series alike will be hooked from page one of Cold Trail, marveling at Dell Shannon's abilities to depict crime as it really exists in cities today and thrilling to the suspense and danger Lieutenant Mendoza and his men face in what seems the impossible challenge of criminal justice in the urban setting.
With Cold Trail, Dell Shannon has written 29 Lieutenant Mendoza mysteries. Meticulous in her research of the Los Angeles Police Department, she has a firsthand knowledge of police procedures and criminal laboratory techniques, which accounts in large part for the vivid realism and strong characterizations in the series. Dell Shannon lives in Southern California with a menagerie that includes several cats, two sheep and a dog.
Fully seasoned to the anonymous urban violence that is all in a day's work, Lieutenant Mendoza must once again adapt his mode of operation to a chilling sequence of senseless crimes. As Cold Trail opens, a murderous rapist and child molester is loose in the streets; an unidentified female body is found under a condemned house in a decaying section of the city; a thug is shot to death and a chain of robberies continues unabated--all without a clue.
Mendoza and his colleagues in the Robery and Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department follow what appears to be a cold trail until, through meticulous detective work and routine persistence, the men bring this set of mysteries to its conclusion.
Veteran admireers and newcomers to the series alike will be hooked from page one of Cold Trail, marveling at Dell Shannon's abilities to depict crime as it really exists in cities today and thrilling to the suspense and danger Lieutenant Mendoza and his men face in what seems the impossible challenge of criminal justice in the urban setting.
With Cold Trail, Dell Shannon has written 29 Lieutenant Mendoza mysteries. Meticulous in her research of the Los Angeles Police Department, she has a firsthand knowledge of police procedures and criminal laboratory techniques, which accounts in large part for the vivid realism and strong characterizations in the series. Dell Shannon lives in Southern California with a menagerie that includes several cats, two sheep and a dog.
- GenresMystery
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
19 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Dell Shannon
154 books23 followersPseudonym of Elizabeth Linington.
Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.
Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society
Barbara "Elizabeth" Linington (March 11, 1921 – April 5, 1988) was an American novelist. She was awarded runner-up scrolls for best first mystery novel from the Mystery Writers of America for her 1960 novel, Case Pending, which introduced her most popular series character, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Her 1961 book, Nightmare, and her 1962 novel, Knave of Hearts, another entry in the Mendoza series, were both nominated for Edgars in the Best Novel category. Regarded as the "Queen of the Procedurals," she was one of the first women to write police procedurals — a male-dominated genre of police-story writing.
Besides crime, Linington also took interest in archaeology, the occult, gemstones, antique weapons and languages. Linington was also a conservative political activist who was an active member of the John Birch Society
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2023
The blurb on my hardback copy made it sound as though they were going to have another tough one involving a child rapist, but that case is barely mentioned in passing before they catch him.
Alison, having found her dream house, is suddenly faced with the reality of so many, many things needing to be done, and how frightfully costly a lot of it will be. She's also dealing with the frustrating fact that she's surrounded by a plethora of men doing all sorts of things to the house, yet she cannot find one that will make a simple repair on the twins' swing set. She looks at classifieds, she looks at community bulletin boards, and absolutely no one will come to do such a piddling little job. Mendoza, of course, born and raised in the city, hasn't the faintest notion of what to do, and Alison does not want to ask Higgins or Glasser to take up their precious spare time. She finds a brilliant answer to a lot of her problems, and once again, she finds it at the vet's.
Hackett is dealing with the very sudden onset of middle-aged (O.K, middle-prime-of-life) vision problems. Shannon makes it a little confusing--he's having trouble with close-work (reading reports and menus) but he's also taking great care in driving because he can't see signs and pedestrians until he's on top of them. Yet, the doctor says that he doesn't need bifocals.
Hackett is also dealing with a case that has gone to arraignment, yet still frets him. A nasty man, who was mean sober as well as in drink, comes into a crowded bar and starts dragging out his wife, yelling and hitting her as he does so. Suddenly a shot rang out, and he dropped dead. Seven witnesses swear that they saw a young man, Jody Holt carrying a gun. He swears he did not have one. The odd thing is, they had found a .32 bullet casing on the floor, yet the man was shot by a .22. Jody has been advised to plead guilty, but he refuses to lie. It's not until Hackett (fretting around the case even though it's out of his hands) mentions the significance of the two different guns that the case begins to move.
The headline case involves a mummified body found under a house slated for demolition. Shannon makes the interesting comment that L.A, in the time since these books began to be written, had undertaken an ambitious "face-lifting" of the oldest parts, putting up handsome civic buildings and underground shopping malls to entice people back to the area. It occurs to me that Mendoza, at the beginning, would not have known what a mall was, let alone an underground one. It made me think; in the timeline of the series, only a few years have passed since CASE PENDING, but the city itself--in the books--is advancing at a much faster rate. By great good fortune, the lab is able to rescue enough evidence to identify the lady; she had been missing about 51 months. No one had been able to track her down, she was quite happily married and looking forward to giving a party the week following her disappearance, and none of her jewelry--including a whopper of a diamond ring--has ever shown up. The body itself is so far gone that they cannot really tell how she died. It's reasonable to assume that she was murdered, but it's always possible that someone, confronted with an accidental dead body, panicked and hid her. This cold trail is interesting to follow, identifying the body, questioning family, friends, and the police officers who originally investigated, tracing just how this well-to-do woman had ended up so far out of her normal haunts. However, I didn't care for the conclusion. Normally I am not bothered by coincidences in these stories, because coincidences occur very frequently in life. But, after four years and more, and the police just starting to reinvestigate, to have a piece of her jewelry suddenly get pawned seems too contrived. I think I would have liked it better if some pawnshop owner with a good memory recalled dealing with that jewelry, and still having records.
There's a poignant vignette involving a prostitute, aging and ill, and the runaway she took in and helped for a decade. It looks like suicide, but there's no note or bottle of pills. This one shows that even those who are on the down side of the law don't necessarily give up their humanity.
There's a wryly humorous case involving a body in a Goodwill bin. "All those items you no longer need or want, please let us have them."
And there's another one to remind how suddenly and shockingly life can get overturned, with a mother and her mentally challenged daughter beaten unconcious and left in the garage with a car running--along with a quiet, inoffensive neighbor, found dead beside the car.
There's a case involving the deaths of two elderly storekeepers, that's sad partly because it's NOT such a shocking conclusion.
On the personal side, Conway has been sidelined with an emergency appendectomy, Shogart, everyone's least favorite detective, goes out in a blaze of glory and goodwill when he's injured trying to take down a heister. (The born cop, leaping towards trouble instead of away.) He will be taking early retirement. (I was a little surprised that Saul Goldberg did not pass through to pay his respects.) Bertha Hoffman has suffered a broken hip and has retired also--adding to Alison's list of problems. (I hope that Bertha's niece Mabel will make arrangements to care for Fritz, the Germing Shepherd.) Nick Galeano is making slow but steady progress with Marta. He takes her to the Castaway restaurant. (I don't know if was an error with Shannon or the editor, that she originally referred to it as Castaways, plural.) His next step will be to persuade her to meet his mother, but Marta presumably doesn't want to be thought "fast", and her husband's only been dead a few months. Piggott wants to try breeding fish again, but it will only be over Prudence's dead body. Makes sense; she's the one who has to do most of the work!
Overall, a very enjoyable read, as usual.
Alison, having found her dream house, is suddenly faced with the reality of so many, many things needing to be done, and how frightfully costly a lot of it will be. She's also dealing with the frustrating fact that she's surrounded by a plethora of men doing all sorts of things to the house, yet she cannot find one that will make a simple repair on the twins' swing set. She looks at classifieds, she looks at community bulletin boards, and absolutely no one will come to do such a piddling little job. Mendoza, of course, born and raised in the city, hasn't the faintest notion of what to do, and Alison does not want to ask Higgins or Glasser to take up their precious spare time. She finds a brilliant answer to a lot of her problems, and once again, she finds it at the vet's.
Hackett is dealing with the very sudden onset of middle-aged (O.K, middle-prime-of-life) vision problems. Shannon makes it a little confusing--he's having trouble with close-work (reading reports and menus) but he's also taking great care in driving because he can't see signs and pedestrians until he's on top of them. Yet, the doctor says that he doesn't need bifocals.
Hackett is also dealing with a case that has gone to arraignment, yet still frets him. A nasty man, who was mean sober as well as in drink, comes into a crowded bar and starts dragging out his wife, yelling and hitting her as he does so. Suddenly a shot rang out, and he dropped dead. Seven witnesses swear that they saw a young man, Jody Holt carrying a gun. He swears he did not have one. The odd thing is, they had found a .32 bullet casing on the floor, yet the man was shot by a .22. Jody has been advised to plead guilty, but he refuses to lie. It's not until Hackett (fretting around the case even though it's out of his hands) mentions the significance of the two different guns that the case begins to move.
The headline case involves a mummified body found under a house slated for demolition. Shannon makes the interesting comment that L.A, in the time since these books began to be written, had undertaken an ambitious "face-lifting" of the oldest parts, putting up handsome civic buildings and underground shopping malls to entice people back to the area. It occurs to me that Mendoza, at the beginning, would not have known what a mall was, let alone an underground one. It made me think; in the timeline of the series, only a few years have passed since CASE PENDING, but the city itself--in the books--is advancing at a much faster rate. By great good fortune, the lab is able to rescue enough evidence to identify the lady; she had been missing about 51 months. No one had been able to track her down, she was quite happily married and looking forward to giving a party the week following her disappearance, and none of her jewelry--including a whopper of a diamond ring--has ever shown up. The body itself is so far gone that they cannot really tell how she died. It's reasonable to assume that she was murdered, but it's always possible that someone, confronted with an accidental dead body, panicked and hid her. This cold trail is interesting to follow, identifying the body, questioning family, friends, and the police officers who originally investigated, tracing just how this well-to-do woman had ended up so far out of her normal haunts. However, I didn't care for the conclusion. Normally I am not bothered by coincidences in these stories, because coincidences occur very frequently in life. But, after four years and more, and the police just starting to reinvestigate, to have a piece of her jewelry suddenly get pawned seems too contrived. I think I would have liked it better if some pawnshop owner with a good memory recalled dealing with that jewelry, and still having records.
There's a poignant vignette involving a prostitute, aging and ill, and the runaway she took in and helped for a decade. It looks like suicide, but there's no note or bottle of pills. This one shows that even those who are on the down side of the law don't necessarily give up their humanity.
There's a wryly humorous case involving a body in a Goodwill bin. "All those items you no longer need or want, please let us have them."
And there's another one to remind how suddenly and shockingly life can get overturned, with a mother and her mentally challenged daughter beaten unconcious and left in the garage with a car running--along with a quiet, inoffensive neighbor, found dead beside the car.
There's a case involving the deaths of two elderly storekeepers, that's sad partly because it's NOT such a shocking conclusion.
On the personal side, Conway has been sidelined with an emergency appendectomy, Shogart, everyone's least favorite detective, goes out in a blaze of glory and goodwill when he's injured trying to take down a heister. (The born cop, leaping towards trouble instead of away.) He will be taking early retirement. (I was a little surprised that Saul Goldberg did not pass through to pay his respects.) Bertha Hoffman has suffered a broken hip and has retired also--adding to Alison's list of problems. (I hope that Bertha's niece Mabel will make arrangements to care for Fritz, the Germing Shepherd.) Nick Galeano is making slow but steady progress with Marta. He takes her to the Castaway restaurant. (I don't know if was an error with Shannon or the editor, that she originally referred to it as Castaways, plural.) His next step will be to persuade her to meet his mother, but Marta presumably doesn't want to be thought "fast", and her husband's only been dead a few months. Piggott wants to try breeding fish again, but it will only be over Prudence's dead body. Makes sense; she's the one who has to do most of the work!
Overall, a very enjoyable read, as usual.
November 3, 2018
Title derives from a couple of the cases - starts with finding a dead body under a house that's about to be demolished, but the body has been dead for several years. They actually manage to identify her, but struggle to find out how she ended up in that neighborhood. A couple other missing persons that also go back a ways. And since they are now Robbery/Homicide, they have to take on all the heists as well. A couple mugged in a parking lot, and the woman is distraught at losing her Titanic medal inherited from her grandfather (he got it as a reward for helping rescue some Titanic survivors. I've been binging on Mendoza books, and they are starting to run together now - I'm having trouble remembering which cases came from which books! This one was interesting because a very pregnant Alison is starting on the renovation/fencing/etc. of their estancia/winery and all its acreage. It also tells how she found the couple who end up living there to take care of the livestock, etc., in later books. Since I am reading these out of order, it's fun to discover the origin of things I've read in later books. I also got a chuckle out of Art Hackett when he discovers he's going to need reading glasses....
August 21, 2017
Slightly confusing due to tangled storylines; learned some new Spanish phrases....very very realistic!
May 1, 2025
Who done it, with lots of cases going on at once. Great afternoon read.
July 15, 2009
I read in an interview with Dell Shannon that she got her ideas by reading the TV Guide. That really charmed me.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews