Hollywood Hills-Joseph Wambaugh

Hollywood Hills
Joseph Wambaugh
Little, Brown, Nov 16 2010, $26.99
ISBN 9780316129503

In the Hollywood Hills, movie director Rudy Ressler and his fiancée wealthy Widow Leona Brueger meet LAPD cop “Hollywood” Nate Weiss. Rudy thinks Hollywood as the right look for the screen while Leona thinks he has the right “meat” for her boy toy. They ask him to keep an eye on their estate while they are out of town, which he agrees to do.

Former convict turned butler Raleigh Dibble works at the Ressler mansion where he plans to stay legit. Leona’s sleazy snobby art dealer Nigel Wickland also watches the mansion, but has different plans for what is inside and for the butler he placed inside. However, his scheme runs into problems when drug addicted losers Jonas Claymore and Megan Burke intrude on his game. As the rest of the Hollywood Hills cops deal with an assortment of crazies like the notorious Wedgie Bandit, the Bling Ring break and enter teens and the Addams Family clones the Goths, cop Della Ravelle guides rookie officer Britney Small as to how to properly surf (with a nod to Flotsam and Jetsam) LAPD and the dangerous streets worked by the LAPD Hollywood Station.

The fourth Hollywood Station police procedural (see Hollywood Moon and Hollywood Crows) is a wacky jocular thriller due to the clash between the cops and robbers. Fast-paced throughout, the main plot has several folks crashing and clashing at the Ressler mansion, but not all are after a master art theft. Readers will appreciate Joseph Wambaugh’s wonderfully amusing entry; as the great author places all the insanity and lunacy inside serious criminal and police activities. This is another winner.

Harriet Klausner