The Butterworth boys (writing as W.E.B. Griffin) have mastered the realism and feel of a metropolitan Police Dept at work, and you'll be hooked on the characters that populate the Badge of Honor series. If I find myself at an airport bookstand, this is the series I look for first. It may not be lit-fic, or get them into a college-level English course beside Updike, but they're a helluva lot more fun to read. Their other series are equally well-researched and written, whether you want to read about the impact of WWII and the Peronists on Argentina, or explore the dark side of the CIA. Always a great read.