I spent much of my free time this weekend with Clive Cussler's latest novel "The Chase." Cussler's made his name over the decades writing books featuring the National Underwater and Marine Agency's Dirk Pitt. The last one or two Dirk Pitt books have approached whatever is the literary equivalent of "jumping the shark." This is not one of those books.

"The Chase" is a good, fun read. A historical thriller set in the early 1900s, "The Chase" is the story of Isaac Bell, the top investigator for the renowned Van Dorn Detective Agency, and his search for the Butcher Bandit. The Bandit has terrorized many of the West's mining towns. Time after time his meticulously planned crimes net him hundreds of thousands of dollars, costs everyone in the bank their lives (men, women and children) and he disappears without a trace each time.

Filled with the historical touches that made many of the Dirk Pitt novels so intriguing, "The Chase," rides the railroads of the American west. The Unlike the Dirk Pitt books, Cussler's new protagonist does not demostrate almost superhuman ingenuity and feats of physical prowess. Instead, Bell is a "merely" an extremely talented and competent investigator.

The story is engaging, and you'll likely finish the book in just a few days -- and enjoy every minute of it. Cussler would do well to let Dirk Pitt enter retirement. Isaac Bell is someone I'd love to read about in the future.