by Dell Shannon
Part of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, book 35
First published 1984
Detective Luis Mendoza walks into another day at the Los Angeles Police Department, where the case files never stop coming. A petty theft here, a domestic dispute there, and somewhere in between, the kind of violent crime that makes headlines. Mendoza and his fellow officers work their way through each investigation, following leads that sometimes pan out and sometimes dead end in frustration. The city throws everything at them: small-time criminals looking for easy money, crimes of passion that explode without warning, and the routine police work that fills the hours between the dramatic moments. Each case demands attention, whether it involves tracking down a purse snatcher or unraveling the motives behind a brutal killing. Mendoza applies his experience and instincts to every situation, knowing that behind each file folder lies someone's crisis, someone's tragedy, or someone's last desperate act. The work never gets easier, but it remains necessary.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, procedural
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 20th-century
227 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: violence