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Badge of Honor #6
The Murderers
A Philadelphia narcotics cop is shot dead in his home. A bar owner's wife and partner are gunned down during an attempted robbery. And in a beautiful mansion, a young woman dies of a heroin overdose. At first the crimes seem unconnected. But these four deaths are about to trigger a massive convergence of corruption, cops, and the mob that could tear the Philadelphia Police Department apart from the inside out. All the way to the top...
544 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
212 people are currently reading
594 people want to read
About the author
W.E.B. Griffin
351 books1,304 followersW.E.B. Griffin was one of several pseudonyms for William E. Butterworth III.
From the Authors Website:
W.E.B. Griffin was the #1 best-selling author of more than fifty epic novels in seven series, all of which have made The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and other best-seller lists. More than fifty million of the books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Hungarian.
Mr. Griffin grew up in the suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1946. After basic training, he received counterintelligence training at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany, and ultimately to the staff of then-Major General I.D. White, commander of the U.S. Constabulary.
In 1951, Mr. Griffin was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, interrupting his education at Phillips University, Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. In Korea he earned the Combat Infantry Badge as a combat correspondent and later served as acting X Corps (Group) information officer under Lieutenant General White.
On his release from active duty in 1953, Mr. Griffin was appointed Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Mr. Griffin was a member of the Special Operations Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Army Aviation Association, the Armor Association, and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society.
He was the 1991 recipient of the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, and the August 1999 recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, presented at the 100th National Convention in Kansas City.
He has been vested into the Order of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association, and the Order of St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association, and been awarded Honorary Doctoral degrees by Norwich University, the nation’s first and oldest private military college, and by Troy State University (Ala.). He was the graduation dinner speaker for the class of 1988 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He has been awarded honorary membership in the Special Forces Association, the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, the Marine Raiders Association, and the U.S. Army Otter & Caribou Association. In January 2003, he was made a life member of the Police Chiefs Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and the State of Delaware.
He was the co-founder, with historian Colonel Carlo D’Este, of the William E. Colby Seminar on Intelligence, Military, and Diplomatic Affairs. (Details here and here)
He was a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. And he belongs to the Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Pensacola, Florida, chapters of the Flat Earth Society.
Mr. Griffin’s novels, known for their historical accuracy, have been praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for their “fierce, stop-for-nothing scenes.”
“Nothing honors me more than a serviceman, veteran, or cop telling me he enjoys reading my books,” Mr. Griffin says.
Mr. Griffin divides his time between the Gulf Coast and Buenos Aires.
Notes:
Other Pseudonyms
* Alex Baldwin
* Webb Beech
* Walker E. Blake
* W.E. Butterworth
* James McM. Douglas
* Eden Hughes
* Edmund O. Scholefield
* Patrick J. Williams
* W. E. Butterworth
* John Kevin Dugan
* Jac
From the Authors Website:
W.E.B. Griffin was the #1 best-selling author of more than fifty epic novels in seven series, all of which have made The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and other best-seller lists. More than fifty million of the books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Hungarian.
Mr. Griffin grew up in the suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1946. After basic training, he received counterintelligence training at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany, and ultimately to the staff of then-Major General I.D. White, commander of the U.S. Constabulary.
In 1951, Mr. Griffin was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, interrupting his education at Phillips University, Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. In Korea he earned the Combat Infantry Badge as a combat correspondent and later served as acting X Corps (Group) information officer under Lieutenant General White.
On his release from active duty in 1953, Mr. Griffin was appointed Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Mr. Griffin was a member of the Special Operations Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Army Aviation Association, the Armor Association, and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society.
He was the 1991 recipient of the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, and the August 1999 recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, presented at the 100th National Convention in Kansas City.
He has been vested into the Order of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association, and the Order of St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association, and been awarded Honorary Doctoral degrees by Norwich University, the nation’s first and oldest private military college, and by Troy State University (Ala.). He was the graduation dinner speaker for the class of 1988 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He has been awarded honorary membership in the Special Forces Association, the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, the Marine Raiders Association, and the U.S. Army Otter & Caribou Association. In January 2003, he was made a life member of the Police Chiefs Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and the State of Delaware.
He was the co-founder, with historian Colonel Carlo D’Este, of the William E. Colby Seminar on Intelligence, Military, and Diplomatic Affairs. (Details here and here)
He was a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. And he belongs to the Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Pensacola, Florida, chapters of the Flat Earth Society.
Mr. Griffin’s novels, known for their historical accuracy, have been praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for their “fierce, stop-for-nothing scenes.”
“Nothing honors me more than a serviceman, veteran, or cop telling me he enjoys reading my books,” Mr. Griffin says.
Mr. Griffin divides his time between the Gulf Coast and Buenos Aires.
Notes:
Other Pseudonyms
* Alex Baldwin
* Webb Beech
* Walker E. Blake
* W.E. Butterworth
* James McM. Douglas
* Eden Hughes
* Edmund O. Scholefield
* Patrick J. Williams
* W. E. Butterworth
* John Kevin Dugan
* Jac
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
October 10, 2023
OMG, the names one must remember to read this book. Most of those names have nothing to do with the primary story line. It got a little tedious. I don't really remember much about the book other than that. I finished reading it in July and here it is in October and I am just now entering my thoughts. Hmm, something about a cop getting killed. Something about two guys offing a woman and trying to make it look like a robbery. Might have to go back and review the ending. Oh wait, I can't do that, I donated the book to the ship's library when we were on our Alaskan cruise.
March 10, 2024
This series rambles on. Great procedural. But one had better have read the prior books or be overwhelmed trying to sort out the different characters the writer assumes you are familiar with.
December 9, 2018
The Vice-President is coming to Philadelphia, and he has received a death threat from a local looney who believes God is telling him to "disintegrate" the VP. This is the main plot of the book, but, as with all the books in this series, there are several ongoing story lines featuring several wonderful characters. This is an outstanding police series, different from any other I've read so far.
August 4, 2020
It is generally a wonderful feeling when you randomly pick a book from the roadside and it surprisingly turns out to be one of the brilliant reads. I neither much heard about the author nor the book but once I started reading I couldn't keep it down. (Imagine reading 500+ plus pages in a single day). Though the title of the book and the script on the back cover gives us an impression of the murder mystery (I kind of felt the backstory to be misleading), actually the book is about the cops; specifically of the state of Philadelphia. The book gives us knowledge about the hierarchy in the Police department, various segments, specialized units along with nicknames for cops. Including the graphic pictures of memorandums, case reports, and investigative reports the author took us into the world of cops teaching us about 'Miranda' warning, radio frequencies of the police cars, and patrol vehicle codes. Unlike the regular run in the mill kind of cops solving a case, the book is all about police politics and comradeship between the men in blue. Even though the book refers to a couple of dirty cops and petty jealousies and ego in the department, it mainly focuses on the dedication and brotherhood of the police. The characters, though there are many are all well etched sticking to their traits. If you prefer reading about good cops and honest officers working together side by side, this one is for you. Atleast for me it was a fresh perspective on not only cops but people in general as the author managed to portray the maximum characters in the book to be good and honest (atleast spent more time on those) compared to only a handful of bad people. For me this was a tought feat to pull off in a book about murderers which the author did brilliantly.
November 1, 2020
Biggest pet peeve on this is the kindle version and the "reports" looking like crap and almost impossible to read. If I am using an e-reader over a book, a big reason could be eye sight and fonts...wouldn't take much for a 20year old+ book that is still around $9 on ebook format to actually be formatted properly for ebook.
The 100 pages of repetition is going to always cost this author one star, and this book just dragged on and had a very lackluster ending.
The 100 pages of repetition is going to always cost this author one star, and this book just dragged on and had a very lackluster ending.
June 4, 2025
This book is very... how do I say... very intense, very macho. It's a deep-dive into the Philadelphia PD, written in the 90's, with all the embellishments of the time. If one is looking for a masculine POV, one can find that quite clearly from this book. Despite having over 20+ characters with intertwined storylines, the book's narrative consistently speaks of women rather than with them in a way that isn't seen around anymore for good reason. Great twists though. Kept me hooked.
October 23, 2020
3.5 It was a little better than your usual W.E.B. Griffin book. As the title states, there are multiple murders -- one was of a cop in his home; the second was a contract hit from a man on his wife and his business partner. The usual cast of characters, but as always -- Why does his books have to be so long??? But a solid, entertaining book.
September 20, 2019
Another Good Book
Sometimes I wish I could post a review without writing 20 words. As I've said before Mr. Butterworth is a master story weaver. He keeps your interest and while I always figure that the good guys are going to persevere, I never quite know how.
Sometimes I wish I could post a review without writing 20 words. As I've said before Mr. Butterworth is a master story weaver. He keeps your interest and while I always figure that the good guys are going to persevere, I never quite know how.
March 28, 2021
This was the weakest book in this series. At 528 pages, it was about 250 pages too long. There was too much backtracking to the first 5 books, and I did not enjoy reading the many many pages of police reports. It's too bad, because it was a very good series for the first 5 books!
March 28, 2025
Interesting police story with lots of unexpected twists. The reader wants to find out how it ends. In the paperback version I read, the small print on the pages of the police Investigation Reports was hard to read. Having to read those important pages was less than enjoyable.
August 6, 2017
Best of the series so far.
Griffin continues to round out his characters, flaws and all. Brotherhood of War and Honor Bound remain my favorite series.
Griffin continues to round out his characters, flaws and all. Brotherhood of War and Honor Bound remain my favorite series.
August 10, 2019
Penny, Matt's fiance ods on heroin, Narcotics group has dirty cops in it maybe while one of the members is killed.
September 25, 2019
8 out of 10 stars. Extreme detail knocks my rating down. I kept having to look back to check on characters. The ending was blah.
December 21, 2019
Possibly one of the greatest series of all time. My father read this and passed it down to me. Great reading.
June 17, 2020
Good book
The insight into the workings of the Philadelphia police and its mayor were interesting. The idea of a wealthy main line individual as a policeman is interesting.
The insight into the workings of the Philadelphia police and its mayor were interesting. The idea of a wealthy main line individual as a policeman is interesting.
April 10, 2021
Loved it! Any book about police officers is interesting to me! I recommend!
July 2, 2022
A lively book, a lot going on. It appears that this one will be carried over to the next one in the series. One of the dangling stories is not completed in this book. Very entertaining.
August 3, 2022
Police politics and murder.
January 18, 2023
I'm remembering why I fell in love with this series! The characters are great!! I can't wait to find out what happens to them!
May 21, 2023
Too long. Not my favorite. Still great characters and engaging dialogue.
October 22, 2023
Enjoyed book 6
November 5, 2023
Way too many caracters, and a poor ending. A very tedious read!
October 17, 2025
See my review of Men in Blue for this series.
March 1, 2012
Scrounging on the Town Library’s shelves looking for other Griffin books, I picked up this one and realized I had not yet read it. This is Volume VI in the Badge of Honor series, which takes place before Matt Payne gets promoted to Sergeant. Like all of Griffin’s books, it is replete with full names preceded by long multi-word titles, but I am either getting used to it or weakening, because it did not bother me all that much and in fact in a few places helped me realize who was who, since there is a very large complement of characters. I had to admit it was a real page-turner; the basic story revolves around three separate crimes and several subplots. Griffin provides the sequence in very short 3rd-person scenes that tell you what is happening with different people in a way that makes the reader feel a relationship with each one.
A cop gets killed, and suspicion falls on the detective whose live-in girlfriend is the dead cop’s wife. A prostitution operation gets recognized when some good cops monitoring some dirty cops find that the latter are enjoying the services of the girls they are protecting. A would-be hit man starts his new career in a bar just before Matt Payne and Sergeant Washington go into it for a drink. Matt’s girlfriend expresses her indignation about his refusal to quirt the police force and get a real job by looking for a heroin fix. Captain Pekach and Miss Peebles finally get married. And Matt finally gets confirmation that his sister is shacking up with his supervisor. This is all very gritty stuff, and the language is authentic, meaning that it is deplorable. If you accept it as realism, however, it makes a very good read.
A cop gets killed, and suspicion falls on the detective whose live-in girlfriend is the dead cop’s wife. A prostitution operation gets recognized when some good cops monitoring some dirty cops find that the latter are enjoying the services of the girls they are protecting. A would-be hit man starts his new career in a bar just before Matt Payne and Sergeant Washington go into it for a drink. Matt’s girlfriend expresses her indignation about his refusal to quirt the police force and get a real job by looking for a heroin fix. Captain Pekach and Miss Peebles finally get married. And Matt finally gets confirmation that his sister is shacking up with his supervisor. This is all very gritty stuff, and the language is authentic, meaning that it is deplorable. If you accept it as realism, however, it makes a very good read.
June 13, 2013
The Inferno Lounge Murder for Hire Case. A mystery murder of an undercover Narcotics officer is complicated by his wife's bailing to the bed of the Homicide Detective assigned to investigate the murder. In parallel, Gerry Atchison begins serious plans to whack his partner in the Inferno Lounge and plans to get rid of his wife in the process. In the meantime, Matt Payne continues to catch shit from his poor little junkie rich girlfriend Penny that he must quit the cops; when he refuses she ODs on heroin and sets the world abuzz. Employing enterpising detective hunches, Payne helps peel the onion leading to the guns used in the killing and framing the conspiracy. When they collar the amateur hit man, the Mob helps ensure his confession and both shooter and puppet master are sent off to the electric chair. Matt hits the jackpot with an old flame who rekindles the relationship once the junkie is gone and life is good.
April 23, 2015
I listened to this on CD and loved the narrator, Dick Hill. He has a great voice for police detective stories. I really liked the beginning and thought I would probably read the rest of the series. But then the story got confusing. Some of the cops were on the take, which ones? Some of the policemen and/or their wives were having affairs; whose doing what with whom? And when the book ended, I wasn't sure who done it.
To be fair, I read the small print on the back of the CD case and discovered this was a condensed version. It was only 3 CDs and I'd thought it was a novella. I'm sure some or most of the confusion would be dispelled in an uncondensed version; but I'm not going to read it to find out.
To be fair, I read the small print on the back of the CD case and discovered this was a condensed version. It was only 3 CDs and I'd thought it was a novella. I'm sure some or most of the confusion would be dispelled in an uncondensed version; but I'm not going to read it to find out.
November 11, 2011
Number SIX !!!!!!!- Yes this is Number "6" in the badge series -- and YES!I AM HOOKED-- and must read on! If you are here with me you know what I mean-- By now we are unmercifully addicted to the saga-- Matters not the academic tools the author may have-- its the rich deep characters that we now after over a thousand pages we are deep into their lives not unlike a soap opera--
But still great reads -- and as we travel on with them all we will look forward to the next segment -- in this one we see a young cop mature into his own-- his friendships turn to steel -- his love life up in hte air-- and many surprises along the way--
I am starting number 7 tomorrow--
But still great reads -- and as we travel on with them all we will look forward to the next segment -- in this one we see a young cop mature into his own-- his friendships turn to steel -- his love life up in hte air-- and many surprises along the way--
I am starting number 7 tomorrow--
February 25, 2015
WEB Griffin's "The Murderers" is the sixth book in his Badge of Honor series. "The Murderers" is both a great read and a fantastic addition to the Badge of Honor series. I thoroughly enjoyed the story line and character development. The only thing that I did not like about this story is that Mr Griffin repeats with too much detail, that he inevitably gets wrong, what happened in his previous books. I find that this is both annoying and unnecessary. All in all, I enjoyed "The Murderers" and would recommend it as a great book to read with the caveat that you have to read the other books in the series first.
December 15, 2016
I seem to be enjoying the Badge of Honor series, but Griffin has really produced some dragging plots here. This was a long book that could have been made shorter, but for the author's writing syle--there are many repeats and summaries along with characters reading written summaries--one described a room and it's content in very much detail. I'm not sure why? There are many characters, revolving around each other and sometimes they get lost in the reader's mind. As always, the book doesn't climax, it just ends, leaving the reader to wonder who dunnit? I should give up on this series and go on to something I enjoy, but I'l try book #7.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews