DALE CONLEY

Dale Conley is an agent with the Bureau of Esoteric Investigation (BEI).

That is a "tiny, covert group with the Department of Justice. Conley was "part of a small group of agents with knowledge in specialized fields". His was history for which he had degrees. Dale Conley was not his real name but "was the name they'd given him when he joined the BEI. He hadn't liked it at first, preferring the name he'd developed - Max Iron. Naturally, this less-than-mature name choice had been shot down by the higher-ups. But he'd grown to love the name Dale Conley, and now he fully and deeply identified with it. He was Dale, and Dale was he".

For a historian, and that is what Conley correctly thinks of himself, the man gets into a ton of trouble but then that is pretty much what the nature of the BEI is - a go-to organization meant to house people who would normally have worked for one of the other, more normal alphabet agencies but because of their expertise work for a group that farms them out to those other bureaus on a case-by-case basis. One week Conley, and his fellow agents, might be assisting the FBI, the next ATF, then maybe NCIS, or BIR, or OIS, or - you get the idea.

But the key point to that help is that BEI agents like Conley are not just experts who offer specialized opinion and then step back to let the real agents do the dangerous work, rather they are as trained in the same way the ones being helped are so when the fists start flying and knives get pulled out or guns brandished, a man like Conley knows quite well what needs to be done. "It seemed to Dale Conley that he stared down an armed maniac almost every day of the week." That is the opening line of the prequel to the regular adventures of this very busy man and it definitely sets the scenario for, well, his life.

The activities of Conley and the BEI take place in "the 70's". No more specific time frame than that.

"Dale Conley had never let something like a set of orders get in his way." That is a line in one of the adventures that leapt out at me and sort of told the story of the character. He is not willfully disobediant but rather just decides that more often than not his way is also the right way and that instructions from someone not in the line of fire are subject to review.

He is a fun character who enjoys life. He is not rich but does like to live well if the opportunity arises (and damn the expense reports!). He is not lecherous or lascivious but will also never pass up a chance to ask a good looking woman to dinner. He is fun.

The writing on this series is as laid back as Conley is most of the time and as action-packed as Conley gets when the need shows up. They are all very fast reads in that the stories do not bog down anywhere and since you know something else is going to happen on the next page, you just kinda keep reading to learn what it is.

I'm hoping he keeps doing what he is doing for some time.