Hollywood Crows Joseph Wambaugh Little Brown

With Hollywood Station and his newest, Hollywood Crows, Joseph Wambaugh makes a welcome return to the police procedural. The Hollywood Crows are Community Relations Officers - Crows for short. The Crows deal with parking problems, public nuisances, and the repeat callers that are lonely or disturbed. The idea being they free up other officers for 'real' police work. Wambaugh has always shown the Los Angeles police officer as dedicated but frustrated by rules and regulations. It's this oversight that prevents them from actually solving the city's crime problems. Instead, they're forced to deal with too much paper work and too many restrictions on action. Dark humor and pride in the job they allow them to continue on. In Hollywood Crows, the usual bunch of workaday Joes go through the days putting Band-Aids on a city with gaping wounds. Wambaugh is especially good at making little events, seemingly unrelated, come together in a dramatic climax. In Hollywood Crows, a couple of officers find themselves dealing with one Margot Aziz. This being Hollywood, she's gorgeous. This being Hollywood, she's not what she seems. If you've never read Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Crows makes an excellent introduction. If you have read Joseph Wambaugh before, you've probably got this novel read and are spreading the good word. He's back!

Dave Biemann