The Delta Star

This is Joseph Wambaugh at his best, humorous, suspenseful, and sympathetic to his police characters while not shying away from their faults, foibles, and flaws. In one of his better mysteries, the cops of Rampart Station try to solve the connections between a Nobel Prize, a Russian submarine, a useless credit card, a dead hooker and a similarly deceased sleazy private eye.Detective Mario Villalobos tries to solve the murder of a young hooker named "Missy Moonbeam" by day while spending his nights drowning his sorrows with a typical Wambaugh cast of police and groupie characters at Leery's Saloon. Larger than life characters such as "The Bad Czech", "Jane Wayne", Ludwig the police dog, and the "Gooned Out Vice Cop" all make appearances. The thing is Wambaugh makes you actually care about these people and their situations. It is obvious that the former policeman turned author still understands and feels a great empathy and affection for the men and women who police our "mean streets". Villalobos is one of his better drawn characters. A burned out man who drinks too much, he still possesses some great police instincts, and he is not so far gone as some of the suicidal main characters of Wambaugh's darker novels, such THE SECRETS OF HARRY BRIGHT or THE GLITTER DOME. A mixture of serendipitous luck and good police work lead to a surprising twist of a conclusion, but as with most of Wambaugh's best books, the journey and the whacky cast of characters one encounters along the way is actually more important than the destination itself.Highly recommended. Five plus stars.

Perhaps this should be called the precinct that couldn't shoot straight. A police procedural that is spiced up with a cast of police characters that are bizarre, pathetic, crude and funny. All of them are boozers, meeting nightly at a local tavern to toss a few and exchange wild happenings of the day. Joseph Wambaugh wrote this book in 1982. It has the hip lingo of that era - a reminder of how quickly street talk becomes cliché, nevertheless a fun read. Cops on the beat, especially in L.A, always have weird but entertaining stories to tell. Besides the gritty happenings on LA streets, there are two murders to solve here. Several clever twists keep you interested throughout. A great beach book.

This is no dud, stop looking in the bookstore when you see this title and pick it up. This book moves at the same pace as a cop car running hot. It really is a good read with a lot of inventive characters and situations. There are a lot of police novels out there but this is defiantly one of the top ten percent. You will like the book from the moment you start reading.

My only regret is that I can only give 5 stars to this terrific police procedural by Joseph Wambaugh. There aren't many books that make me grin constantly, even at 5 in the morning! Wambaugh combines zany characters with (what seems like) gritty realism about cops' lives to form a wonderful read. There are strong female and male characters, and enough villains to keep things rolling. Wambaugh's LA is smoggy (dare I say gritty also?) and filled with mean streets; his police officers cope as best they can. I've read and enjoyed other Wambaugh books, but I'd have to say this is #1 (so far). Police Officer Ludwig, in particular, is unforgettable.

I've admired Wambaugh's books since I read THE CHOIRBOYS almost twenty years ago. In spite of the horrors he so effectively expressed, I pursued a career in law enforcement, serving for for years with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department. Now I'm writing several police novels of my own. THE DELTA STAR is one of my favorite novels altogether. You get partnered with Detective Mario Villalobos as he investigates the homicide of a prostitute named Missy Moonbeam. You get drunk with the Bad Czech, Jane Wayne, and Rumpled Ronald as they drink away the angst of the street. And you realize that the Gooned-Out Vice Cop's syllogism of people being garbage hits close to home.This is one of several Wambaugh novels I keep by my word processor. He's not only a veteran cop and a talented writer. Wambaugh's an inspiration.