Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Moon

Hollywood Moon

Joseph Wambaugh

Little, Brown, Nov 24 2009, $26.99

ISBN: 9780316045186

Working the night shift, LAPD Hollywood Station midwatch cops Flotsam and Jetsam walk the Grauman's Chinese Theatre and other Boulevard stops discussing the midget love life of "Hollywood" Nate Weiss and surfing under a full moon. At the same the two dudes are chatting and walking, Nate and his senior partner Dana Vaughn investigate a call that some young punk is assaulting women.

Meanwhile low tech artists Dewey Gleason and his wife Eunice are working an identity thief scam that uses runners Creole and Jerzy as well as angry violent teen Malcolm Rojas. However, loyalty amongst felons proves nonexistent when Dewey's runners plot to con him. None of those involved in the Dewy scheme including him quite understand that the brains of the operation is not him, but his dominating spouse. Soon the four cops will find seemingly separate cases converge on one clever female who makes EEO law appear to protect the wrong gender.

This is an amusing Hollywood Station police procedural that starts off with readers gaining a deep look at the four cops and to a lesser degree the criminals pulling off an identity theft ploy. The story line is fun to follow and often hilarious especially when the surfer dude cops discuss life in the vernacular of riding the waves. Fans of the series will enjoy Joseph Wambauch's cautionary tale that warns how easy to steal an identity is; while reader, the police and the low life criminal support surf the streets at Eunice's beck and call.

Harriet Klausner