1. Blending BritNoir and Police Procedural, I read R. D.
Wingfield's _Winter Frost,_ the fifth book about Detective
Inspector Jack Frost of the AFAIK apocryphal Denton, England.
I understand that the author hasn't written more books
because he's got a TV series based on this character and
other lucrative mass-media interests. This book, at 508
pages, is the longest so far, with enough cases to
investigate and plot twists to last a TV season.
It's definitely a police procedural,
with little of Frost's life beyond the job. Well, he may have
no life beyond the job because he's forever putting in double
shifts and worse, as his sycophantic boss volunteers staff to
an interagency drug task force to curry favor with his boss
while some killer is stalking women who are out late and
another killer is doing away with children. The police
station, procedures, interactions, and bureaucracy seem
accurate except for the absurdities of some of the
characters, particularly Frost's boss and his assistant, and,
of course, except for the homicide rate in this town. (A
blurb on the back by someone I never heard of: "the most
accurate picture of police work in crime fiction
today.")
It's also a hilarious comic novel.
Frost is a shambling slob who makes a poor impression, he
cannot handle his paperwork, and he's rudely non-PC in
practically every way possible. Yet, he really cares about
his work, which is why he puts in so much unpaid time, and
behind the pottymouth is a heart of gold.
The only similar series I can think
of is the long-ago Inspector Dover, who IIRC was a worse slob
and not as dedicated to policing. I had been wondering
whether a hardboiled police procedural could be funny, and I
decided yes.
2. Moving on to NYC, I read Peter Blauner's _Slow Motion
Riot_, about a probation officer. I discovered early on that
I'd read it before, I guess soon after it was published in
1991. I didn't remember the plot, just the fine touches, such
as the protagonist's Holocaust-survivor father who had a
cellar stockpile of canned goods and Saltines. The
environment sounds like every government office of my
acquaintance, and the work resembles what a classmate with
the job but in a tony suburban county described (she quit in
the early 1980s as the Nixon-era enhancements--LEAA?--were
cut back and caseloads grew beyond where she felt she had a
chance of accomplishing anything). A good book, well written,
but disheartening.
3. I started another police procedural last night, but now I
can't find it. I wasn't that wild about the first few
chapters, but I didn't dislike it enough to throw it out the
window while I was sleepwalking. I suppose it'll turn up as
soon as I pick out another book and get to page 50 or
so.
Joy, reading away
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