Joseph Wambaugh

Chronicles the events and aftermath of a fateful confrontation between two criminals and two police officers in a deserted California onion field, which ended in death for one of the officers. Reprint.

The Onion Field

They are the Choirboys ¿ the patrol squad of the LA Police attempting to stay sane in an insane world. The five sets of partners on the night-watch are men of varying temperaments and backgrounds, but they are joined together by the job and they have elected to spend their pre-dawn hours in MacArthur Park in relaxing drink and sex sessions they call ¿choir practice¿. This is the story of men endangered ultimately not by the violence of their jobs but by their choice of off-duty entertainment. This is a boisterous and freewheeling novel, as chillingly authentic as only a veteran police officer could make it.

The Choirboys

A Novel

Hollywood Station

A young longshoreman's delivery of a Mexican dancer from the busy harbor of San Pedro to a Hollywood nightclub changes both of their lives when they encounter individuals on opposing sides of the law, including surfer cops Flotsam and Jetsam, aspiring actor Hollywood Nate and young Britney Small. By the best-selling author of The Onion Field. 50,000 first printing.

Harbor Nocturne

Chronicles the first homicide cases to be solved by DNA testing: the 1983 and 1986 rape-murders of English teenagers Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashforth.

The Blooding

From master crime writer Joseph Wambaugh, the acclaimed author of such classics as The Onion Field and The Choirboys, comes the extraordinary true story of a firefighter who may have been, according to U.S. government profilers, "the most prolific American arsonist of the twentieth century." Growing up in Los Angeles, John Orr would watch in awe as firefighters scrambled to put out blazes with seeming disregard for their own lives. One day he would become a fireman himself, and a good one. As a member of the Glendale Fire Department, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a fire captain and one of southern California's best-known and most-respected arson investigators, as well as a writer of firefighting articles and finally of a fact-based novel. But there was another, unseen life, one that included many women, a need for risk, and a hunger for recognition. While Orr busted a string of petty arsonists, there was one serial criminal he could not track down. The fire lover used the same simple yet devastating device and was unerring in his execution. His lethal handiwork led to the death of four innocent people and countless millions of dollars worth of property damage. Homes, retail stores during business hours, fields of dry brush in stifling summer heat -- little was safe from his obsession to see them burn. But after years of terror and destruction, he would make a mistake. He would leave behind a precious clue that investigators would use to lead them to the true identity of the fire lover, to the shock and disbelief of the firefighting community. Chilling, colorful, and vivid, Fire Lover is Joseph Wambaugh at his best. He explores the making of a deviant personality, the fascinating intricacies of fire science, the uneasy relationship between firefighting and law-enforcement communities, and a legal system gone haywire. Based on his trademark meticulous research, interviews, case records, and thousands of pages of court transcripts, Wambaugh fashions a powerful narrative. You will never look at fire the same way again.

A True Story

Fire Lover

The Blue Knight

Los Angeles detective Mario Villalobos' investigation of a seemingly routine murder leads him to a famous university where the struggle for recognition, funds, and the Nobel prize may have high costs.

The delta star

For a cop, a night on the job means killing time and trying not to get killed. If you're a cop in Hollywood Division, it also means dealing with the most overwrought, desperate, and deluded criminals anywhere. When you're patrolling Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, neither a good reputation nor the lessons of scandals past will help you keep your cool, your sanity, or your life when things heat up. The robbery of a Hollywood jewelry store, complete with masks and a hand grenade, quickly connects to a Russian nightclub, an undercover operation gone bloodily wrong, and a cluelessly ambitious pair of tweakers. Putting the pieces together are the sergeant they call the Oracle and his squad of street cops. There's Budgie Polk, a twenty-something firecracker with a four-month-old at home, and Wesley Drubb, a rich boy who joined the force seeking thrills. Fausto Gamboa is the tetchy veteran, and Hollywood Nate is the one who never shuts up about movies. They spend their days in patrol cars and their nights in the underbelly of a city that never sleeps. From their headquarters at Hollywood Station, they see the glamour city for what it is: a field of land mines, where the mundane is dangerous and the dangerous is mundane.

a novel

Hollywood crows

Hollywood moon

Hollywood Station certainly isn't your typical police division, but in Hollywood Moon the cops of that surreal place seem called upon to deal with an even greater share of weirdness than normal. A prowler has been violently attacking women, and officers 'Hollywood Nate' Weiss and the captivating Dana Vaughn are in hot pursuit, with Nate on edge because his no-nonsense, whip-smart partner has a knack for making him feel like a rookie. And there's an even darker side to the weirdness. Cue the enigmatic crook Dewey Gleason, master of disguises. Each of his many identities is crafted for the execution of some under-the-radar racket. When, with his henchmen, he hatches an audacious plan, things get very violent indeed.

Hollywood Moon

For the streetwise cops of Hollywood Station, dealing with the panhandlers, prostitutes and costumed crackheads of the boulevard is all in a day's work. If they're lucky, surf-mad partners Flotsam and Jetsam can spend the morning calming the crazies and the afternoon policing the babes on the beach. But beyond the lights and the crowds on the Walk of Fame, the real Los Angeles simmers dangerously. And when things heat up, even veterans like Viv Daley will see things that they'll wish they could forget. In the hills above town, it's a different world, where sports-car-studded driveways lead to sprawling villas stuffed with clothes and jewels. Up here, pickings are easy for the Bling Ring - a group of photogenic young addicts who knock off celebrity cribs to fund their next fix. Even experienced cop and wannabe filmstar Nate "Hollywood" Weiss has struck gold in the hills. Leona Bruger, wife of an Industry Mover and Shaker, has taken a fancy to him. Although he knows the Hollywood maxim - you don't pet the cougars, especially if they belong to the boss - Nate reckons that a leg-over might be just the leg-up he needs. What Weiss doesn't realise is that his new flame's crooked art-dealer is about to pull a forgery scam right under his nose. And when a pair of desperate junkies hit on a foolproof plan to pay their drug debts with a stolen painting, things get very complicated indeed...

Hollywood Hills

About police officers and their freedoms in the precinct. About the punishment of a group that got out of control. It was in the MacArthur Park and it brought discredit to the Los Angeles Police Department.

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Joseph Wambaugh invented the modern police procedural thriller. Now in his long-awaited return to the LAPD, he deploys his bone-deep understanding of cops' lives--and a lethal sense of humor--in a stunning new novel. For a cop, a night on the job means killing time and trying not to get killed. If you're in Hollywood Division, it also means dealing with some of the most desperate criminals anywhere. Now the violent robbery of a Hollywood jewelry store quickly connects to a Russian nightclub and an undercover operation gone wrong, and the sergeant they call the Oracle and his squad of quirky cops have to make sense of it all. From an officer who dreams of stardom, to a single mother packing a breast pump, to partners who'd rather be surfing, they'll take you on a raucous ride through a gritty city where no one is safe. Especially not the cops.

Depicts the brutal experiences and rigorous training endured by three Los Angeles policemen

The New Centurions

The Secrets of Harry Bright

When forty-year-old cop Winnie Farlowe lost his shield, he lost the only protection he had. Ever since, he's been fighting a bad back, fighting the bottle, fighting his conscience. But now he's in for a special fight. Never before has he come up against anyone like Tess Binder. She's a stunningly beautiful, sexually spirited three-time divorcee from Newport Beach--capital of California's Golden Orange, where wallets are fat, bikinis are skimpy, and cosmetic surgery is one sure way to a billionaire's bank account. Nearly a year ago Tess Binder's father washed up on the beach with a bullet in his ear. The coroner called it suicide, but to Tess it means the fear of her own fate. And Winnie Farlowe is a man willing to follow wherever she leads--straight into the juicy pulp of the Golden Orange, a world where money is everything, but nothing adds up . . . where death and chicanery flourish amidst ranches, mansions, and yachting parties. In his long-awaited new novel, best-selling author Joseph Wambaugh combines harrowing suspense, scathing humor, and a moving portrait of a man on the brink of self-destruction.

The Golden Orange

A true murder story based on the Main Line Murder Case, in which a high school teacher was found dead in an automobile in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania, and her two children had disappeared

Echoes in the Darkness

In a super follow-up to Hollywood Station, Wambaugh returns to the beat he knows best, taking readers on a darkly funny ride-along with a cast of flawed LAPD cops and eccentric lowlifes you won't forget. When LAPD cops Hollywood Nate and Bix Rumstead 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 nightclub-owner Ali Aziz. What Nate and Bix don't know is that Margot's no helpless victim: the femme fatale is setting them both up. But Ms. Aziz isn't the only one with a deadly plan.

Joseph Wambaugh

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