I retired from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, as a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, but I’ve always been a writer at heart and an avid reader. I graduated from California State University in Long Beach, CA, with a major in Film. I am the author of six crime fiction books, three of which involve retired detective turned PI Frank Marr. This trilogy was critically acclaimed.
Platinga is a sergeant with the San Francisco police department. I love his book because so many of the stories are similar to ones that I experienced as a cop. It brought back some good and some not-so-good memories.
You don’t have to be a cop or a former cop to love the read, though. It’s not only a great reference book for crime writers who want to learn and add authenticity to what they’re writing but also a wonderful read for those who want to take a wild ride inside a cop’s head during the course of their tour of duty.
"The new bible for crime writers." ―The Wall Street Journal
How does it feel to be in a high-speed car chase? What is it like to shoot someone? What do cops really think about the citizens they serve? Nearly everyone has wondered what it's like to be a police officer, but no civilian really understands what happens on the job. 400 Things Cops Know shows police work on the inside, from the viewpoint of the regular cop on the beat―a profession that can range from rewarding to bizarre to terrifying, all within the course of an eight-hour shift. Written by…
George V. Higgins was an Assistant U.S. Attorney who specialized in organized crime. He may not have been a cop, but as a prosecutor, he was responsible for taking a lot of bad guys off the street, so he knew the underworld well.
I have read this book several times. It is inspiring and one of my favorite books of all time. It is a classic example of a totally dialogue-driven book, and it had a huge influence on my writing.
Eddie Coyle is a small-time punk with a big-time problem - who to sell out to avoid being sent up again. Eddie works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is onto Eddie, and he's leaning on him to finger Scalisi, a gang leader with a lot to hide. These and others make up the bunch of hoods, gunmen, thieves, and executioners who are wheeling, dealing, chasing, and stealing in the underworld of Eddie Coyle.
Coffin is a retired detective sergeant out of Portland, Maine. I love books by authors who write what they know and, obviously, write it well.
This book is the first in a series involving Portland PD Detective Sergeant John Byron. Coffin draws on his life experience to create an exhilarating, believable suspense novel and a likable character I want to continue to read.
"A first-rate novel. Suspenseful and highly entertaining." -- New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds
Fall in Portland, Maine usually arrives as a welcome respite from summer’s sweltering temperatures and, with the tourists gone, a return to normal life—usually. But when a retired cop is murdered, things heat up quickly, setting the city on edge.
Detective Sergeant John Byron, a second-generation cop, is tasked with investigating the case—at the very moment his life is unraveling. On the outs with his department’s upper echelon, separated from his wife, and feeling the strong pull of the bottle, Byron remains all business as…
This pick is a classic from an author who played a huge part in growing the police procedural genre. Wambaugh was also a detective sergeant but with the LAPD. He paved the way for other cops, like me, who want to write books.
All of Wambaugh’s books are wonderful reads, but this is one I remember most because I read it as a teenager, and it blew me away. It delves into some of the tougher aspects of being a cop, though, and the negative side of police culture.
Meet the Los Angeles blues—a new breed of cop. From the baby-faced rookies to hashmark heroes, they are besieged men, dealing daily with a world coming apart. Hunting killers, quelling gang wars, fighting corruption, they risk death every day . . . every night.
Joseph Wambaugh was a damn good cop and LAPD detective. For fifteen years he prowled the streets, solved murders, took his lumps. Now he’s the hard-hitting, tough-talking bestselling writer who tells the brutal, true stories of the men who risk their lives every time a siren screams.
I’ve always been a big fan of police procedurals and courtroom drama books, and I am even bigger a fan of books with great characterizations. This book has all that.
Lissa Marie Redmond is a former cold case homicide detective for the Buffalo Police Department. Her protagonist, Lauren Riley, is also a retired cold case homicide detective, and this book is the first in a series with her. I loved this book because it has a lot of memorable courtroom scenes with nice dialogue, and I was surprised by the ending, which is not easy to do.
Lauren's job as a cold case homicide detective is her life. And life just got complicated.
Lauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. Now he's begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of a brutal murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding the case―until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.
To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the…
Frank, a high-functioning drug addict, has devoted his considerable skills to hiding his usage from others. But after accidentally discovering a kidnapped teenage girl in the home of a drug gang, Frank becomes a hero and is thrust into the spotlight. He reluctantly agrees to investigate the disappearance of another girl–possibly connected to the first–but the heightened scrutiny may bring his own secrets to light, too.
"One of the Year's Best Crime Novels" -The New York Times Book Review, Booklist
I have been to, and loved, North, Central, and especially East Africa for over fifty years. Only six times have I been to Africa on holiday; more often, perhaps twenty or more times, as a television producer. Working in Africa gains a perspective of reality that the glories of vacation do not. Each has its place, each its pitfalls like stalled plane rides with emergency landings in the bush or attacks by wildlife. But, in the end, the magic of the “otherness,” what an old friend called “primitava” captures one’s soul and changes your life.
Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd of elephant making their annual migration.
Stumbling onto an elephant poaching, the team become embroiled in true financing of terrorism for al Shabaab –ivory sales–and are determined to stop the slaughter at any cost. Ivory trade financing terrorism involves UN refugee camps with two hundred thousand displaced Somali persons, powerful…
A documentary team hiking through East Africa collides with a gang of deadly poachers, in this gripping adventure by the author of Kidnapped on Safari.
Years of filming, extreme dangers, and daring rescues have taken their toll on documentary producer Pero Baltazar and his team. To relax and reconnect with the East African wildlife they love, Pero organizes a walking safari for him, his camerawoman Nancy Breiton, and their elite guide Mbuno Waliangulu. Still, Pero has trouble truly disconnecting from work. When the team comes across a herd of elephants making their annual migration north of Lake Rudolf, Pero decides…
