True Crime Blog
“Here’s the deal, Lou: my partner and I have knocked on this guy’s door a half-dozen times and sat in his living room for hours asking him questions about his daughter’s death and helping ourselves to his M&Ms. He knows us by our first names, but he probably thinks we’re Dumb and Dumber, and doubts we’ll…
Thirty years ago today, I was beaten unconscious while performing my duties as a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff. Marina del Rey I had volunteered to go on loan from Firestone Station to the Marina del Rey Station.
No self-respecting gangster was going to have plates that read “Regal Beagle.”
Texas 1977 A hot ball of glowing gasses steadily climbed in the eastern sky, threatening to drive temperatures into the triple digits in defiance of the onset of fall. It was the 25th day of September and the start of a typical Sunday in the small town of Denton: Texans moseyed into diners for breakfast…
It was a rare occasion when Floyd would drive. Somehow, it always seemed to be my turn, or so he would argue. Fine. But one afternoon we were traveling through Compton, en route back to Century Station, and Floyd was actually behind the wheel for a change.
Crimes are often deterred by only to the watchful eyes of off-duty cops. An officer’s demeanor, command presence, can at times, make a crook think twice. Most departments don’t require off-duty officers to take action when crimes occur in their presence. Generally, the cop is only encouraged to be a good witnesses rather than physically interceding…
This week I wanted to answer a question often asked by those who follow my blog: What are you reading? Who are your favorite authors? Favorite Crime Authors Joseph Wambaugh When I was a young man just out of high school, I was introduced to Wambaugh novels by my good friend Johnny Babbitt. He asked if I…
Nada Lazarevic, a first-generation American, immigrated from Yugoslavia. The 67-year-old was a seamstress by trade who had built a steady and substantial clientele. Thrifty and hardworking, Nada saved until she could pay cash for her modest home and sensible car. She abhorred debt. Nada was living The American Dream, until she disappeared. That was the…
My editor recently became outraged at a writing critique I privately received from a person involved in a book club. This person was critical of my book, A Good Bunch of Men, because of a bathroom scene. Though nothing beyond a conversation occurs in this scene, this critic was incensed that such a scene was…
Crimson was twenty-two, single, and vivacious. The daughter of perhaps the most forgiving woman I’ve ever met. She had recently broken up with Derek. He was the macho sort who boasted of his combat experience as a paratrooper during Desert Storm. Which, as it turns out, was a lie. He wasn’t a paratrooper, he hadn’t…