Joseph Wambaugh, the former LAPD detective, multiple New York Times
best-seller, and MWA Grand Master, is known as "the father of the modern
police novel" and now, in Harbor Nocturne, he has produced one of the
outstanding books of the year. Some LAPD characters from the acclaimed
Hollywood Station series are here: the surfer cops known as "Flotsam and
Jetsam", aspiring actor "Hollywood Nate" Weiss, and young Britney Small,
along with new members of the midwatch, all gamely coping with the
wackiness of Hollywood. The story begins in the southernmost Los Angeles
district of San Pedro, one of the world's busiest harbors, where an
unlikely pair of lovers is caught up in terror and peril through no
fault of their own.
When Dinko Babich, a young longshoreman, delivers Lita Medina, a young
Mexican dancer, from the harbor to a Hollywood nightclub, his life is
forever changed as an unexpectedly tender and moving love story
develops. Comedy and tragedy are intertwined in the everyday life of the
cops and residents of San Pedro Harbor.