The Mystery Starts Here

Joseph Wambaugh is a good writer but…I think he’s running out of ideas. “Hollywood Hills” is the third book in the “Hollywood” series. It revolves around the cops in the Hollywood division again and I sort of felt like I’ve already read this book. We get a lot of Flotsam and Jetsam, the barely intelligible surfer-dude cops, Hollywood Nate Weiss, at age 38 is still looking for his big break to get into the movies, and all the other assorted cops in the squad. The book revolves around a plot to steal artwork from a wealthy woman – I think. It was so convoluted I’m still not sure what it was all about. A couple of young druggies wandered in and out of the book along with the cops, the Hollywood characters in front of Grauman’s Chinese….you know, same old, same old. The plot was especially hard to follow because the author jumped around so much. I found myself skimming – a lot, just to get to the end.

In all the “Hollywood” series novels, something serious happens at the end. In the first one…or was it the second? Can’t remember, but the Oracle died. I won’t spoil the ending for you in case you feel you have to read the book but something bad happens here that will affect one of the main characters. I was disappointed in the book and had to force myself to finish it. There was no one better writing about cops than Wambaugh when he started and was still on the force. The longer he’s away from the day-to-day life of real cops, the worse his stories get. More than once, a cop-character in “Hollywood Hills” said they were going to use code 3 to call all the cops to the scene. No, code 3 is lights and sirens – always, everywhere. Wambaugh used the code correctly – once – at the end of the book. Time to hang it up, Joe.

“Innocent Monster” is the sixth novel in the Moe Prager series and, while I enjoyed the book, I wish I would have started, if not at the beginning, at lease a few books earlier in the series. Moe’s wife Katy, the mother of his estranged daughter, Sarah, was murdered and it was somehow his fault. Colemen refers to the murder endlessly, as well as a failed second marriage and quite frankly, it got in the way of the plot of “Innocent Monster.” Every time Colemen brought up either subject it was back story and you know what back story does. Stop the reader dead in her tracks.

Okay – onward. “Innocent Monster” is the story of Sashi Bluntstone, an eleven-year-old art prodigy and daughter of Sarah’s childhood friend, who has been kidnapped. Three weeks into the investigation and the cops have gotten nowhere and the parents have gotten desperate and everyone believes Sashi is dead. In their desperation they come to Moe Prager for help. Moe is an ex-cop, an ex-P.I. and, with his older brother, the owner of several upscale wine shops around Manhattan with cutesy names like, “Red, White and Vine.”

Moe start sniffing around, gets the reports from the police and is as baffled as everyone else as to what could have happened to the little girl. Many art critics have dismissed Sashi’s artwork as dribbles from a child, others think she’s a genus and everyone knows, if Sashi is dead, her price of her work will go through the roof. Moe starts interviewing Sashi’s detractors, desperate for a lead. The descriptions of some of the characters are priceless. Along the way, Moe meets a woman very casually and starts falling in love with her – then she disappears, too.

About two-thirds of the way into the book, it the police discover one of the suspects has killed himself and….left photos of Sashi’s body. Will her poor parents ever find closure? Of course we know right then and there, this is too neat. Moe is drinking a bit too much and conveniently “remembers” things while sleeping…or passed out. In the end, Moe does find the bad guy, but it would have been darn hard for the reader to figure it out. Also, the ending left a lot of questions. I won’t spoil the story if you want to read the book. I did enjoy most of it but….skipped a LOT of the back story.

Want to read a fun, humorous mystery? Buy a copy of my humorous mystery, FINDER, available at: www.wildchildpublishing.com. They mystery is cleaver, I’ll be you won’t figure it out and….there are a lot of laughs along the way.