The Detective

The Detective is a thriller/detective novel by American author Roderick Thorp, first published hardcover in 1966. It was made into the 1968 movie of the same name, starring Frank Sinatra, as Detective Joe Leland. Billed as "an adult look at police life", The Detective went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of 1968 and one of the strongest box-office hits of Sinatra's acting career. A sequel, Nothing Lasts Forever, was published in 1979, and was later adapted into the film Die Hard. Both books utilize the third-person narrative in their storytelling, and rely on a wealth of introspective monologuing. Plot summary Joe Leland, a private detective, begins investigating a case for the recently widowed Norma MacIver. Norma requests that Leland find out everything he can about her deceased husband. Norma requests Leland personally because her husband had mentioned knowing him in the past.