Past Tense: A John Marshall Tanner Novel

Greenleaf is simply a pleasure to read - strong social themes, tense and tight plots, good sub-characters, great dialogue, introspection and philosophy, and a likable hero - JM Tanner - who is aging very well on this reader. If you haven't tried one of the Tanner PI books, you should get started. You'll definately read more than one.

"Past Tense" was the first book that I have read in Stephen Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner P.I. series. I read a lot of P.I. novels, and my usual rule is; the darker, the better. And that is why I found "Past Tense" to be a very engaging novel. Greenleaf is not a master of metaphor like Raymond Chandler with Phillip Marlowe or Loren Estleman with Amos Walker. And his Marsh Tanner is not a man battling personal demons like Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder or Andrew Vachss' Burke. But the story here is worthy of any of those other anti-heros. One of Tanner's best friends, an honest cop, has suddenly gone on a revenge killing rampage. In the process, he has cut himself off from everyone who cares about him. Tanner investigates at first to find an answer to his baffling behavior, and then to try and save his life. The plot line is a bit convoluted and Greenleaf ends up relying on the old police corruption cliche, but it all leads to one of the more shocking endings I've seen in a P.I. novel.Greenleaf may not be a writer whose style is equal to the masters of the genre. But with "Past Tense," he has delivered one quite memorable novel.

I just discovered this P.I. series last month and love it! The writing is all-pro, the action is fast and fun, and the hero is truly likeable. There's no recovering alcoholic (thank God), no coincidences, no sterotypes. I was worried that this might be the last in the series as this, the last one so far, was written in 1997, but I see a new installment is due in July, 2000. Pick this book up! You'll be happy you did, and I bet you'll finish it in one day!

Another book from one of my favorite authors, and one of my favorite private detectives, John Marshall Tanner - from my area, San Francisco. Effortless, fast-paced, interesting sidebar on recovered memories.

Charley Sleet has been a well respected, outstanding San Francisco police officer for three decades. He has been very popular among the citizenry in the Tenderloin section where many runaways congregate. He has always helped people and has given much of his spare time to the community, especially the shelters. Though he apparently has a new squeeze, Charley is grieving the recent death of his beloved spouse. Something seems to have happened to Charley and his mind snaps. He turns in his badge and a few days later calmly enters a courtroom and kills Leonard Wints, an affluent defendant in a recovered memory case, in front of a myriad of witnesses. ...... Charley's best friend, private investigator and former attorney John Marshall Tanner, tries to visit his best friend to ascertain why. However, Charlie refuses to talk to anyone, even his best friend or the lawyer his friend obtains for him. John investigates the link between Charlie and the victim to see if he can find a motive. With help, Charley escapes from jail. Soon, the murder count starts to rises as if Charley has turned into a serial killer. John continues to investigate, knowing that sometime soon he will learn the truth, and it may not be something he really wants to know. Nevertheless, he remains determined that the truth come out despite the consequences, either to himself or his friend. ...... PAST TENSE is a very good entry in the John Marshall Tanner series. The story line is fast-paced and John is a superb character. However, Charley persona seems racked with discrepancies and the novel assumes everyone is familiar with the Bay area. Stephen Greenleaf's book is a very good mystery, just not quite on a par with his previous Tanner novels. .....Harriet Klausner