HOLLYWOOD CROWS, 2008

In Wambaugh's gripping new book about life in the country's most sensational police force, the beloved Oracle has been replaced by thin-lipped Sgt. Treacle, but the setting is the same - Hollywood: "America's nut capital" - and some favorite personalities are still around.

When Nate and Bix Rumstead (a supposedly upstanding cop with serious sobriety issues) find themselves caught up with bombshell Margot Aziz, they think they're just having some fun. But in Hollywood, nothing is ever what it seems. To them, Margot is a harmless socialite, stuck in the middle of an ugly divorce from the nefarious bar-owner, Ali Aziz. What Nate and Bix don't know is that Margot's no helpless victim: she's setting them both up so that she can get away with the perfect murder - and still stand to inherit her ex-husbands's ill-won fortune. What SHE doesn't know is that Aziz has replaced her sleeping pills with a poison. And then there's Leonard Stillwater, a small time tweaker whose connection to Aziz is about to shoot him into the big leagues...
Complete with scams, cokeheads, petty (and some not so petty) crimes, HOLLYWOOD CROWS offers the very best of Wambaugh: impeccable plotting, acerbic humor, and plenty of flawed but lovable characters.

 

"You won't want to put this one down, but you won't want to finish it too quickly, either. You will want to savor every beautifully choreographed scene and every hilarious exchange of dialogue. And you'll need a few moments to catch your breath between laughs. Joseph Wambaugh is a true master." Peter Robinson