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Cagney and Lacey
Two women from very different backgrounds leave their old lives behind to become police officers with the New York City Police Department, in a novel that explores the early lives of Christine Cagney and Mary Beth Lacey and how they became a team
Hardcover
First published August 1, 1985
14 people want to read
About the author
Serita Stevens
28 books17 followersSometimes also published as Megan MacDonnell, Shira Stevens, Serita Mendelson Stevens, or Serita Deborah Stevens.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 21, 2016
The novel opens with Christine studying photography in Paris. She is taking various photo jobs and has a boyfriend, but he's not as serious about her as she is about him and she catches him in bed with another woman, ending their relationship. Christine then decides to accept an offer from a London magazine to be a photographer.
Mary Beth, meanwhile, has a secretarial job where she is sexually harassed and decides to quit and take the police exam in order to become a police officer.
Back in London, Christine has fallen for the man who is older than her. Again she cares more for him than he for her and he finally tells her that her photos just aren't that good. She leaves, returns to New York City and decides to take the police exam, her father being a policeman himself.
We get an early indication of Mary Beth's prudishness. An affair she is having fails and she meets Harvey.
Christine gets her own condo and gets into the police academy. She gets her first perp, but another policeman is able to take credit for her collar. Cagney's independent nature doesn't go over well even when she starts her police training. On one run her partner has to kill a kid who he thought had a gun, but it turned out to be a stick. He later commits suicide.
Harvey and Mary Beth, meanwhile, get engaged. Harvey doesn't want her to be a cop but eventually gives in. They get married. Mary Beth's police assignments, though, turn out to be stereotypical female assignments such as matron duty, cleaning the place, etc. Then she ends up getting pregnant.
The police go on a short strike and Cagney has to work since she is on probation. Mary Beth has a boy and gets assigned to the same precinct as Christine and they meet and get their first joint collar. Mary Beth's mother dies, and Mary Beth finds she is once again pregnant.
Years pass. Harvey has an accident at work due to an inner-ear infection and can no longer be an active construction worker. Cagney and Lacey end up on a prostitute detail and at this point in the book we are now covering various aired episodes and the pilot movie itself.
The novel is interesting in the background information it presents but I think more could have been done with the backgrounds and a little less space given to releasing various TV episodes. Still, it's a fascinating addition to the Cagney & Lacey world.
Mary Beth, meanwhile, has a secretarial job where she is sexually harassed and decides to quit and take the police exam in order to become a police officer.
Back in London, Christine has fallen for the man who is older than her. Again she cares more for him than he for her and he finally tells her that her photos just aren't that good. She leaves, returns to New York City and decides to take the police exam, her father being a policeman himself.
We get an early indication of Mary Beth's prudishness. An affair she is having fails and she meets Harvey.
Christine gets her own condo and gets into the police academy. She gets her first perp, but another policeman is able to take credit for her collar. Cagney's independent nature doesn't go over well even when she starts her police training. On one run her partner has to kill a kid who he thought had a gun, but it turned out to be a stick. He later commits suicide.
Harvey and Mary Beth, meanwhile, get engaged. Harvey doesn't want her to be a cop but eventually gives in. They get married. Mary Beth's police assignments, though, turn out to be stereotypical female assignments such as matron duty, cleaning the place, etc. Then she ends up getting pregnant.
The police go on a short strike and Cagney has to work since she is on probation. Mary Beth has a boy and gets assigned to the same precinct as Christine and they meet and get their first joint collar. Mary Beth's mother dies, and Mary Beth finds she is once again pregnant.
Years pass. Harvey has an accident at work due to an inner-ear infection and can no longer be an active construction worker. Cagney and Lacey end up on a prostitute detail and at this point in the book we are now covering various aired episodes and the pilot movie itself.
The novel is interesting in the background information it presents but I think more could have been done with the backgrounds and a little less space given to releasing various TV episodes. Still, it's a fascinating addition to the Cagney & Lacey world.
October 24, 2020
Definitely a great read, it is a little hard to juggle the character arch for both women and bounce between chapters. Some things for Christine are slightly out of character as well as for Marybeth and getting Samuels promoted to Lieutenant because of their work was a little bit of a stretch as well. There were some missed opportunities with Isbecki and establishing that love/hate relationship he and Chris have, also Harvey comes across as a complete asshole in the book later on but then is magically redeemed, that was a little maddening. Overall, for it being a book that is made for the fan base and isn't technically "canon" as it were, it's very well done.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews