POLICE PROCEDURALS

Burke, James Lee. Purple Cane Road
Dave Robicheaux, a man with a tragic childhood and heartbreaking adulthood, faces one of his greatest challenges. A pimp recognizes Dave as Mae Guillory’s son and tells him his mother was killed by police officers who are still with the New Orleans Police Department. This small town cop goes on a mission to discover the truth about his mother. His investigations threaten his family, his friends and his life. The truth also threatens politicians all the way to the governor’s mansion. Burke’s writing is well-crafted and captivating, hard hitting and poetic. His Robicheaux character will have you coming back for more.
Burke’s “Robicheaux” novels will have appeal to those who don’t mind harsh images of violence. Each book contains at least one gruesome image that will haunt the faint of heart. While the books are rough, they also examine the protagonist’s struggles with alcohol, childhood abuse and spirituality. Each book stands on its own, but reading the novels in order will enhance the reader’s experience. If you like “Dave Robicheaux”, then try the novels of Thomas Adcock, Thomas Cook, Tami Hoag and Julie Smith.
Karen Baudouin, Half Hollow Hills Community Library

Cooper,Susan Rogers Houston in the Rearview Mirror
Interlude March 4th . 2002
So I decide to wait until the book, an interloan, becomes overdue and “on the first business day of the month,” as I’m waiting for some PALS lists to compile, I—for the first time—open this book that’s been sitting on my desk for about a month. And whoa!, the first line is another incidence of “synchronicity” revolving around this book. It begins “Who was it that said, ‘Some days are diamonds, some days are stone’? John Denver? Doesn’t matter…” Well, to me it does, and yes, it was John Denver, and if anyone knows anything about me, it’s that I LOVE John Denver. So now, of course, I have to read this book immediately, even if he’s not mentioned again.
On the other hand, when every other word is “expletive deleted” this and “expletive deleted” that, I’ll just summarize the two chapters I read… Cooper’s detective Milton Kovac gets a call that his (estranged) sister in Houston is in the hospital in a coma, her husband shot dead—an apparent murder-(failed) suicide. So he gets on the plane in Tulsa and lands in Houston and begins investigating. I will say that Cooper has a way with distinctive characterizations and a gritty first-person MALE voice.
READ ALIKES (Mystery ; Detective Stories set in Houston , Texas)
  • Baker, Susan. My First Murder.
  • Bradley, Lynn . Stand-In For Murder.
  • Brandon, Jay. Predator’s Waltz.
  • Chapman, Sally. Hardwired.
  • Crider, Bill. Blood Marks.
  • Crider, Bill. Murder Is An Art.
  • Doolittle, Jerome. Bear Hug.
  • Hemlin, Tim. A Catered Christmas.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Act of Love.
  • Lindsey, David L. An Absence of Light.
  • Lindsey, David L. Mercy : A Novel.
  • Nighbert , David F. Squeezeplay.
  • Powell, Deborah. Bayou City Secrets.
  • Rogers, Chris. Bitch Factor.
  • Siler, Jenny. Easy Money.
    (Found via What Do I Read Next? , Virtual Reference Collection.) Other “Authors with mystery series set in Texas ,” courtesy of bookbrowser.com—
  • Jeff Abbott
  • Susan Wittig Albert
  • Carolyn Banks
  • Nancy Bell
  • Kaye Davis
  • W. Glenn Duncan
  • Kinky Friedman
  • Janice Kiecolt-Glaser
  • Allana Martin
  • Lee Martin
  • Susan McBride
  • D.R. Meredith
  • Charles Meyer
  • Rick Riordan
  • Aileen Schumacher
  • Barbara Burnett Smith
  • Doug J. Swanson
  • Mary Willis Walker
  • Anne Wingate
    Lisa Shumicky,Deer Park Public Library

    Cornwell, Patricia. Isle of Dogs
    Set in Virginia, this police procedural novel revolves around the main characters of Judy Hammer, the new superintendent of the state police, and Andy Brazil, a state trooper and pilot. These characters were also featured in Cornwell’s Southern Cross and Hornet’s Nest. When a band of street pirates start murdering and stealing from hapless truck drivers, the nearly blind mayor decides that the solution is to post speed traps on the backward, unpaved Tangier Island. This results in a series of mishaps and near misses that Andy Brazil, in the guise of an online expose writer, known as “Trooper Truth” does his best to remedy. Written in a satiric style, employing black humor, Cornwell’s novel jumps between characters, each more absurd than the next.
    Readers of Cornwell's Dr. Kay Scarpetta novels will find this series to be less focused on the investigative process and not as hard-hitting in subject matter.
    - Ilana Beckerman, West Babylon Read-Alike Authors:
  • Carl Hiaasen
  • Diane Mott Davidson Deaver, Jeffery. The Bone Collector
    Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme was head of the NYPD’s Investigation and Resource Division until an on-the-job accident left him a quadriplegic able only to move his neck, head, and one finger.
    Confined to his bed, Rhyme’s only goal in life now is to commit suicide, until 2 former colleagues pay him a visit. They need his help in tracking a vicious serial killer who has imitated some of the most gruesome and brutal murders in NYC’s past. He leaves staged clues relating to the history and geography of Manhattan and, the next victim.
    Rhyme, PO Amelia Sachs and a host of detectives and forensic technicians work, under the pressure of time, to interpret the clues, save the victims and ultimately capture the criminal. Rosalie Toja – Brentwood Public Library

    Grimes, Martha. The Blue Last: A Richard Jury Mystery
    Martha Grimes writes about Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury in her seventeenth police procedural, The Blue Last. Mickey Haggerty, Jury's old friend and colleague, is dying of cancer and asks Jury to help him solve a 50-year old case that might involve switched identities. The skeletal remains of woman and infant surface when a World War II bomb site is excavated for a new development. The woman, identified as Alexandra Tyndale, was the daughter of a wealthy brewing magnate Oliver Tyndale; the infant was the daughter of Alexandra's nanny. Or was the infant, in fact, Alexandra's daughter, whom the nanny swapped with her own child to make her heir to the Tyndale fortune? Jury soon finds himself involved with the murder of Tyndale's business partner that may or may not be connected to the possibly swapped infants. Added to this cast of characters are Oliver Tyndale's precocious ward, Gemma, and her orphan friend Benny with his incredible dog Sparky. Sounds a little confusing? It is and the reader is kept guessing to the very end about how all of the subplots will play out. (Dare I say beyond the end because many of Grimes' fans won't really know what happens until the next novel is published.)? Grimes also includes the series regular cast of characters, Melrose Plant and the residents of Long Pidd, Jury's London neighbors and Jury's long-suffering sergeant Alfred Wiggins. Grimes has gotten to a point in her series where I think it would be hard to read the novel without having read some of her other Jury mysteries. For the series' fans, it is like coming home. Readers, who like Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley, Barbara Havers mysteries and Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid, Gemma James mysteries will enjoy Martha Grimes. Pearson, Ridley. Middle of Nowhere
    Fast paced novel set in Seattle, written in the third person. Like James Patterson and Stuart Woods it covers the psychological aspects of criminal investigation but it deals with the process of crime solving rather than the graphic, gory details of the crime. Compared to other police procedurals, this is a tame crime novel even though it contains violence. I think both sexes would enjoy this book, the main character is male but some of the supporting characters are female police officers who play a major , active role in the story.
    Rosemarie Jerome, Half Hollow Hills Community Library

    Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia. Orchestrated Death
    Although Harrod-Eagles is a well-known British historical novelist, this is the first of her critically acclaimed crime series in which she introduces Inspector Bill Slider, “a smallish man, with a mild, fair face, blue eyes and soft brown hair.” Slider is a kindly, decent policeman with an inner desire to compensate personally for all the short-comings of the world. Reflecting the author’s passion for music (she is a member of several amateur orchestras,) her stories involve the world of the symphony orchestra. The setting is London There are several sinister murders beginning with the orchestra’s beautiful, young second fiddle. The investigation uncovers her shadowy past, a priceless Stradivarius violin and a large tin of olive oil. There are more murders while Slider and his partner are trying to find the killer and the motive. The ending is sophisticated and will leave the reader anxious for Slider’s next case.
    Grace O’Connor, West Islip Public Libray

    Hunter,Evan and Ed McBain. Candyland
    Fans of the 87th Precinct series get to know McBain’s characters, main and bit players. Steve Carella, the decent detective with the beautiful deaf-mute wife, Artie Brown, the only black detective, Meyer Meyer the bald Jewish cop, Fat Ollie Weeks, a slob and a bigot but the protector of Carella’s back. Perhaps the leading character is the city romantic and menacing, Isola, his fictional equivalent of New York City . Candyland has been described as a sex-drenched novel of obsession and violence. The first part “by Hunter” tracks Benjamin Thorpe, a Los Angeles architect in New York on business, in his quest for a bed partner before his return to his wife. His preoccupation with sex, graphic and dark, has unfortunate consequences. His visit to a massage parlor is described in rather vivid detail and when one of the ladies is found strangled, Ben becomes a prime suspect. Enter Mc Bain and the classic detective story. This portion resembles the 87th Precinct tales and for me was more enjoyable than the Hunter portion. Each detective, the vice cop and the homicide detective, follow leads, together and separately. Clues are dropped, suspects are cleared and the culprit is snagged in a surprise ending. Read alikes include:
  • Stuart Kaminsky’s Lieberman procedurals
  • Margaret Maron
  • Lillian O’Donnell
  • Joe Gores
  • the Matthew Hope series. Marie T Horney Cold Spring Harbor

    Lindsey, David L. Animosity
    With Animosity, David Lindsey creates a psychological thriller that draws the reader in slowly, and then propels him forward to an intricate and shocking ending. The novel is the story of Ross Marteau, a prominent sculptor of female nudes, and his relationships with some very unpredictable and intriguing women. Told from the third person point of view, Ross’ saga begins in Paris , ventures to artsy San Rafael , Texas , and concludes back in Paris .
    Animosity is a story of love, betrayal, obsession, murder, and revenge. It is a study of beauty and ugliness that fascinates and astonishes. Although the police are not prominent characters throughout the novel, the part they play toward the end is critical. The unexpected turns in the novel, and the dramatic ending make the wade through its beginning worthwhile.
    Adults who enjoy suspense novels. Read alikes:
  • Thomas Harris
  • Jeffery Deaver
  • John Sandford
  • John Katzenbach
  • T. Jefferson Parker
  • Shane Stevens
  • Ed Dee
  • Greg Iles
  • and Robert Crais.
    Diane Leddy, Hauppauge Public Library

    Mayor,Archer The Marble Mask
    The Marble Mask is the eleventh of twelve books published so far in the Lieutenant Joe Gunther mystery series. The first ten books in the series take place in Brattleboro , in southern Vermont . In The Marble Mask however, Joe Gunther has left the Brattleboro Police Department to take a post as field commander of the newly formed Vermont Bureau of Investigation. The very first case that comes along takes Joe to the northern-Vermont community of Stowe, where a 50 year old frozen corpse has been found by a skier on the side of a mountain. The body turns out to be that of Jean Deschamps, a Quebec crime boss who disappeared in 1947. Joe and his team cross the border to work with Canadian police in Sherbrooke . There they uncover a turf war between the Hell’s Angels and a gang of local hoodlums, and a plot to frame a dying man for a crime that took place 50 years ago. It is not until the very end of the book that one discovers what the marble mask is, or its role in this “intriguingly tangled web of deception and violence” that explodes into a cataclysmic finale.
    Reviewers tend to concur that Archer Mayor’s strength lies in his ability to produce sharp, thoroughly entertaining, imaginatively conceived police proced-urals. Frequently his stories touch on moral or social issues that turn a regional mystery into an “honorable art form” (NY Times Book Review). He creates a strong, realistic sense of place that sometimes includes the “seedy, seamless side of life”. His characters are well-crafted, including the realism of small-town guys and their down-home quirks. Our hero, Joe Gunther, is warmhearted and street-wise. He’s the quintessential good cop, a quiet hero and a reliable guy. The Marble Mask is told in the first person, as are all of the Joe Gunther books. The pace alternates between the relaxed style of a police officer trying to wind down after a long shift at work, to the sudden adrenaline rush caused by a new case, a new clue, or a new lead to follow. The language is simple enough, but the turns and twists of his plots require enough attention to keep an educated reader interested. The other books in the series are as follows:
  • Open Season (1988)
  • Borderlines (1990)
  • Scent of Evil (1992)
  • Skeleton’s Knee (1993)
  • Fruits of the Poisonous Tree (1994)
  • Dark Root (1995)
  • Ragman’s Memory (1996)
  • Bellows Falls (1997)
  • Disposable man (1998)
  • Occam’s Razor (1999)
  • Marble Mask (2000)
  • TuckerPeak (2001) Readalikes:
  • Death in Paradise – Robert B. Parker
  • Officially Dead – Richard Prescott
  • Cold Steel – Paul Carson
  • Deadly Decisions – Kathy Reichs
  • Bone Key – Les Standiford
  • The Broken Hearts Club – Ethan Black
  • Final Round – William Bernhardt Kathleen L. Scheibel, South Country Library

    Rendell, Ruth. A SLEEPING LIFE
    It’s the 1970’s and a body of a middle-aged woman is found stabbed to death in a field in Kingsmarkham Sussex England Chief Inspector,Reginald Wexford is called to the scene. The body is identified as Rhoda Comfrey, by a man living in the vicinity. She is a native of Sussex and now living somewhere in London for the past 20 years.
    There are no clues that might lead to her directly. An expensive wallet, in her handbag, leads him and his Assistant, Inspector Michael Burden, to Mr. Grenville West, a writer. Polly Flinders, West’s secretary provides no answers to his questions. Eventually, there is a second Grenville West, a mentally handicapped cousin of the victim. Wexford is frustrated with suspects until he can attribute the successful deduction of the case, to his own two daughters.
    Terry Gerty, Brentwood Public Library

    Wambaugh, Joseph FINNEGAN'S WEEK
    While he was still an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1970s, Joseph Wambaugh (1937 wrote books that transformed the police novel into serious literature of the hard-boiled variety. The New Centurions (1970), The Blue Knight (1972), The Onion Field (1973), and The Choirboys (1975), as well as his work on the Police Story television series in the 1970s, set the standards of realism, dialogue and character development for subsequent writers. On the printed page and TV screen, Wambaugh changed the image of policemen from the cool Joe Friday type and the fearless superhero Eliot Ness type to real people coping with character deficiencies, neuroses and other problems while continuing to do a job that brings them face-to-face with the worst of people and conditions. Written after his retirement from the police force, The Choirboys shows a liberating effect that would continue into his later books. It was from this point that he was able to throw into his work whatever loyalty and discretion had kept from it while he remained a member of the L.A.P.D.
    Like Joseph Heller, whose Catch-22 Wambaugh cites as a major influence, he decided to use black comedy to deal with serious themes. Finnegan's Week (1993) is a case in point. Known previously for his dark, boozy, macho police procedurals filled with corruption and betrayal, he has by this time become much funnier, even manic at times, although his characters are just as boozy as ever. Burned-out cop Finnegan, who is in pursuit of a stolen 55-gallon container of a lethal substance, teams with Bad Dog, a female detective attempting to solve the theft of 2,000 pairs of shoes from a Navy warehouse, when the two crimes are seen to be interrelated. The addition to the mix of a sexy female environmental investigator when a child is killed by the toxic stolen waste ,introduces a mystery element which otherwise is mostly absent..Which of the two babes will Finnegan end up going to bed with seems to be the biggest mystery here. Wambaugh uses his talents to keep an engaging cast of odd-ball characters involved in a farcical web of circumstances and to give the reader a terrific sense of locale San Diego with its proximity to Tijuana and large Navy presence and the sleaze factor that he seems able to locate in California 's plushest places).
    One of today's over the top writers, Carl Hiaasen, seems to be doing for Florida these days what Wambaugh has done for California. As a matter of fact, readers who like the work of writers like Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard and Joseph Heller are the ones who would be most comfortable with the later books of Joseph Wambaugh. Those who prefer Ed McBain or Robert Parker, say, should stick with his earlier books. The rest of us will find Finnegan's Week , with its zany characters, explosive style, and antic wit, an enjoyable read.
    Arlene Leventhal, Half Hollow Hills Library

    Created October 12, 2002: updated June 18, 2007