The private eye Hollywood is too scared to write

Every great action story begins the same way. Someone is in trouble. The clock is running. The police cannot — or will not — solve the problem.

Then comes the name.

This is not simply another detective recounting old war stories. It is a portrait of a disappearing breed: the independent lawman who covets justice and is willing to deliver it.

If Hollywood were casting the role, it might once have chosen Tom Selleck. Today, maybe Chris Pratt. The man walking through the door is not chasing glory. He is there because everyone else has run out of options.

In real life, that man was Nils Grevillius.

“The Last Lawman” does not read like a memoir. It reads like the first season of a television series you cannot stop watching.

Imagine