- Hardcover: 282 pages
- Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (28 April 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0684832496
- ISBN-13: 978-0684832494
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.8 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 511,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Past Tense (John Marshall Tanner Mysteries)
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Product Description
Product Description
Tanner's relationship with Charley Sleet of the San Francisco Police Department has both personal and professional dimensions and has long been of vital importance to both men. Nothing could be more out of character than for Sleet to stand up in a civil courtroom and gun down a total stranger. Tanner's search for answers takes him deep into the heated controversy over claims of recovered memories of sexual abuse, into the darkly violent corridors of police corruption, and, most painfully of all, into the fearsome new contours of his best friend's mind.
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First Sentence
IT WAS MIDMORNING OF A CHILLY WINTER WEEKDAY. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
IT WAS MIDMORNING OF A CHILLY WINTER WEEKDAY. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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
...... 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
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Greenleaf does it again!
15 May 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
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!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A Fairly Dark P.I. Novel
4 April 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Here comes John Tanner again.
19 Oct 1997
Format:Hardcover
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.
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