Latest Reads

Having been so impressed by Joseph Wambaugh's novel The Choirboys, I borrowed a couple of newer novels by Wambaugh from my mother. By newer I mean written in the '90's. "Fugitive Nights" tells the story of a retired police office, Breda Burrows, who sets up shop in Palm Springs as a private investigator. She enlists the help of a boozer Palm Springs cop waiting for his disability retirement, Lynn Cutter, on what should be a simple domestic case of surveillance and reporting. From here all hell breaks loose in the desert in and around the glamorous California town.

I like Wambaugh's style tremendously, particularly in this book he has a great talent for three things: writing cop talk, burnout alcoholic heroes, and profanity. Indeed the humorous parts of the book are on par, mostly, with The Choirboys but overall the story falls decidedly flat and shallow. The book is much more light hearted than I thought it would be, given what I've read of his so far. I don't know that I would recommend the novel; however, there is definitely some good stuff to be found here but the story is just too uneven.

A book that I can wholeheartedly recommend is "Two for the Dough" by Janet Evanovich. It is the second book in the Stephanie Plum novels. I made a blog posting about the first novel, "One For the Money", last month. Here's what I had to say about the first book in the series:

The book is a super easy read, told from heroine Stephanie Plum's perspective. It chronicles her bumbling rise and eventual success as a bounty hunter. "One For The Money" is the first in an ongoing series of 15 books to date. I highly enjoyed the humor and fast paced storytelling that was provided and if I come across the next installment I'll definitely give it a read.

The second book picks up a few months after the first. The same funny characters are present (Stephanie's grandmother is hilarious) with the same situations that literally made me laugh aloud while reading. Bounty hunter Plum definitely has a knack for getting herself and others into a lot of trouble with funny results. Again, the book is pure fluff but there's nothing wrong with that, especially when it's provided by a story that only took me a little over a day to read, even with all the interruptions at work. If you want something fast, easy and funny, check out the best selling series.