Lucas Davenport

Lucas Davenport is the protagonist of the "Prey" series of detective novels written by John Sandford. In the first 13 novels he is a maverick detective with the Minneapolis Police Department, first as a lieutenant removed from supervising the robbery section, then after resigning at the end of "Eyes of Prey", returning in "Night Prey" as a deputy chief (a political appointment). Beginning with "Naked Prey", Davenport has been an investigator for the [http://www.dps.state.mn.us/ Minnesota Department of Public Safety] 's [http://www.bca.state.mn.us/bca.asp Bureau of Criminal Apprehension] , acting as a special troubleshooter for the governor of Minnesota in politically-sensitive cases. He is known for his unorthodox and manipulative behavior as a detective, reminiscent of "Dirty Harry" Callahan.

Davenport is described as a tall, slender, wide-shouldered man with a "permanent tan" that gives his very blue eyes a kind expression, contradicted by the "chilly" smile of a predator, particularly a wolverine. Dark-haired, but streaked with gray, Davenport has a face marked by a fine scar from his hairline to the right corner of his mouth (caused by a fishing hook accident) that gives him "a raffish air" and also "a touch of innocence, like Errol Flynn in "Captain Blood" ("Rules of Prey").

Davenport is street-wise, has a wide network of contacts among all levels of society in the Twin Cities, and is able to think like a criminal. Not above skirting the law or accepted procedures to move a case forward, he is also a police celebrity, having shot and killed a large number of suspects in the line of duty, with numerous contacts in the news media who consider him a good interview.

Davenport is independently wealthy, having once created then sold his own software company that created first computer games and later emergency simulations for police dispatch center training. He dresses fashionably, often in European styles (here reminiscent of detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs of "Miami Vice"), and drives a Porsche. Early on he was depicted as a womanizer, with a daughter (Sarah) out of wedlock from a running affair with blonde television news reporter Jennifer Carey. As the series progressed Davenport settled down with and eventually married surgeon Weather Karkinnen, who once saved his life with an emergency tracheotomy, having a son (Sam) with her and providing a home to Letty West, a once wayward teenage girl encountered in "Naked Prey". Before that, however, Davenport had numerous romantic encounters with suspects, victims, and female officers, including Detective Marcy Sherrill, a subordinate, and Lily Rothenburg, a detective lieutenant of the New York Police Department.

Davenport has a reputation as a "gun freak" ("Rules of Prey" 80), and at the start of the series owns 13: a Heckler & Koch P7 automatic pistol, a Beretta 92F, a small .25 automatic of unstated make that he wears in an ankle holster as a hideout gun, two Colt Gold Cup .45 ACP competition pistols, three .22 caliber pistols (a Ruger Mark II, a Browning International Medalist, and a left-hand bolt-operated Anschutz Exemplar), four recovered (and untraceable) street guns including a Charter Arms .38, and a Browning Citori over-and-under 20 gauge shotgun. In "Rules of Prey", Davenport uses one of his street guns, a Smith & Wesson Model 39, to fabricate a self-defense justification for executing a serial killer.

Born and raised Catholic, Davenport has a strong interest in reading, poetry, and war gaming. As the series develops, Davenport exhibits a number of anxiety disorders, including depression and a chronic fear of flying on commercial aircraft.