Thank you, Mile Corwin, for a literate police procedural with nary a serial killer in sight. Asher Levine, a Jewish cop who quit the LAPD after his witness in a murder case is executed, is called back as lead investigator when a retired cop is killed down in San Pedro. Ultimately, the old cold case and the new hot one intertwine in a web of gang violence and police corruption. Corwin draws his characters well, imbuing each with his or her own set of physical and behavioral qualities, and the dialog is smart, punchy without running over into parody. The writing only feels forced when Levine dumbs himself into a couple of mortally dangerous situations and smarts his way out of them. In an era when murders are solved in 60 minutes on TV (exception for "The Killing"), Corwin demonstrates that police work can be a long, tedious, painstaking process that sometimes results in a quick arrest, sometimes not. Along the way, he provides a compelling look at Los Angeles and its environs - the architecture, the streets, the ethnic neighborhoods and restaurants; he also provides a look at cop culture that I haven't read since Joseph Wambaugh.
Corwin doesn't do enough, however, with Levine's Jewish background. There are some funny (and pretty realistic) scenes with his mother and uncle Benny about history, aspirations for the next generation, and finding "a nice Jewish girl (Levine is already divorced from one) instead of dating "shicksas" (non-Jewish girls, particularly Lebanese Christians). And while Corwin occasionally touches fleetingly on Levine's service with the Israeli Defense Forces in southern Lebanon, the experience probably should have informed his character more than it does in the book.
I read a fair amount of police procedurals, and this is one of the best I've read in a while.