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Dragnet: The Case of the Crime King
A new Joe Friday detective story, taken from the files of the Los Angeles police. In The Case of the Crime King, by Richard Deming, Lieutenant Joe Friday knew who the Crime King was and how he operated -- but not where he was. And the victims wouldn't talk!
181 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 7, 2019
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6 people want to read
About the author
Richard Deming
106 books3 followersRichard Deming (1915-1983) was a solid and reliable pro whose crime-writing career extended from late 1940s pulps to early 1980s digests. He also wrote several volumes of popular non-fiction late in his life.
He is most likely to be remembered as one of the most prolific contributors to Manhunt and the early days of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and as a paperback original writer, sometimes of novels based on TV shows (Dragnet, The Mod Squad, and under the pseudonym Max Franklin, Starsky and Hutch). He was also a frequent ghost for the Ellery Queen team on paperback originals and for Brett Halliday on lead novelettes for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.
He is most likely to be remembered as one of the most prolific contributors to Manhunt and the early days of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and as a paperback original writer, sometimes of novels based on TV shows (Dragnet, The Mod Squad, and under the pseudonym Max Franklin, Starsky and Hutch). He was also a frequent ghost for the Ellery Queen team on paperback originals and for Brett Halliday on lead novelettes for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 5, 2023
A tie-in novel with the TV series that faithfully captures the ambiance of that series.
Friday and Smith are working the Robbery Detail when they discover that a gang--headed by an arrogant but intelligent crook who considers himself a master criminal--is robbing supermarkets across the state. The book, like the series its based on, has the cops using established police methods and a lot of legwork to gradually identify the gang members and eventually track them down.
The story is well-told, narrated by Friday in the same style as the series. The dialogue is sharp, with Friday dropping in a number of his signature dramatic/ironic one-liners at the end of conversations.
There are a number of gunfights, which may be the most atypical part of the novel when compared to the TV series (which acknowledged that cops rarely get into gun battles in real life). But those gunfights were a natural part of the story being told. The bad guys were a violent bunch and unlikely to go down quietly. Their leader--the self-described Crime King--is just annoying enough as well as evil that you really enjoy seeing him go down at the end.
Friday and Smith are working the Robbery Detail when they discover that a gang--headed by an arrogant but intelligent crook who considers himself a master criminal--is robbing supermarkets across the state. The book, like the series its based on, has the cops using established police methods and a lot of legwork to gradually identify the gang members and eventually track them down.
The story is well-told, narrated by Friday in the same style as the series. The dialogue is sharp, with Friday dropping in a number of his signature dramatic/ironic one-liners at the end of conversations.
There are a number of gunfights, which may be the most atypical part of the novel when compared to the TV series (which acknowledged that cops rarely get into gun battles in real life). But those gunfights were a natural part of the story being told. The bad guys were a violent bunch and unlikely to go down quietly. Their leader--the self-described Crime King--is just annoying enough as well as evil that you really enjoy seeing him go down at the end.
January 3, 2024
Lt. Joe Friday and his partner, Sgt. Frank Smith have a very tough new case. They're pretty certain that they know who the robbers they are after are - a gang that strikes at supermarkets - but proving their suspicions is almost impossible. Witnesses have been threatened, and the gang leader is convinced that he's so much smarter than the police that he enjoys taunting them. But, as always with "Dragnet", it's disciplined and detailed police work that will solve the case.
Deming handles the characters absolutely perfectly, and his writing is compelling and thoroughly enjoyable.
Deming handles the characters absolutely perfectly, and his writing is compelling and thoroughly enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews