Word: wambaugh
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TRUE CRIME Even firefighters can be bad guys. Joseph Wambaugh's antihero is a respected California fire captain who becomes a prolific arsonist...
...suspicion in popular culture--think Chinatown or L.A. Confidential--that Los Angeles cops were quietly up to no good, and there have been some dark real-life incidents, like the police beating of Rodney King. But L.A. is embroiled in its biggest police scandal ever, one that makes Joseph Wambaugh read like tepid tea. Authorities have identified 40 people who were wrongly convicted, and public defenders are reviewing 4,000 more cases. The cops "are just a gang with the law on their side," says Gerardo ("Clever") Lopez, a former gang member. "People are finally seeing the truth...
Finnegan's Week by Joseph Wambaugh (Morrow; 348 pages) is a caper story of a kind, if getting through the workweek without sinking into occupational depression, or into yet another doomed marriage, can be called a caper. Finbar Finnegan is a San Diego cop with three ex-wives and a receding hairline, but only in real life. He hates his job and wants to be an actor, and as this cheerfully silly tale commences, he is mugging into the bathroom mirror, preparing to audition for the part of a contract killer on a TV cop show...
Creative Writing. The manuscript for Derek Goodwin's first novel, Just Killing Time, was sent to publishers adorned with endorsements by John le Carre and Joseph Wambaugh. Simon & Schuster was willing to pay $920,000 for the thriller but found out the blurbs had been faked and withdrew its offer. Goodwin insists the bogus testimonials are the work of an unidentified enemy...
Another gold coast lies 3,000 miles away, in Orange County, Calif. Joseph Wambaugh makes it the backdrop for The Golden Orange (Morrow; 317 pages; $19.95), his tale of high rollers on the sunstruck expanses of Newport Beach. Former policeman Winnie Farlowe pilots a ferry and works at his favorite hobby, drinking. One day he slams his boat into a yacht. The accident introduces him to a much divorced lady with money, looks and a conniving mind. Before Winnie's head clears, he is being set up for a scam that involves betrayal and homicide. In The Blue Knight...