Mr. Simon’s reporting of the year (January 1, 1988-Decemeber 31, 1988) he spent riding along with and observing the investigative techniques of twenty-nine detectives who manned the Baltimore Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Division provides a fully immersive plunge into the world of urban policing. Readers are taken along and given an eyewitness’ view of not only the procedural and public, but also the administrative and political circumstances that surround murder investigations, as we accompany the detectives to their individual crime scenes. However the action that unfolds is not, in the words of the old television show Dragnet, delivered in a “just the facts ma’am” monotone, but is instead rendered via a skillful use of color and context usually seen in fictional works. At the same time Mr. Simon avoids the trap of sloppy sensationalism that can easily ensnare true crime novels. Each crime scene and subsequent investigation is given individual treatment by the author, who allows the reader to get to know the detective or detectives working the case. The cases as described while hardboiled, grisly, sometimes sardonic, and even at times laugh out loud funny, are also always sensitive and poignant with regard to the tragedy of violent death. It is no wonder that this novel was the inspiration for the highly regarded and critically acclaimed 1990s television series Homicide: Life on the Street.
Simon’s writing style is journalistic, but as previously stated not aseptic. As I read the novel I came to feel that the intent was to exhibit the world that the detectives, victims, families, and citizenry inhabit on a daily basis and how that environment’s physical, emotional, economic, and political reality, which foments crime in all its forms, can be writ large (with a few notable exceptions) to any major city not just Baltimore. An example is this passage “Pellegrini turns to watch the Buick roll a few blocks…to the Brunt street corners, where a small coterie of runners and touts have resumed work, selling heroin and cocaine a respectful distance from the murder scene.”
Being a fan of fictional and non-fictional mystery/crime novels and film, I don’t think that reading this book altered my feelings with respect to the causality or consequences of urban crime, but I did learn something about how real homicide detectives approach an investigation. Finally in my opinion, this book will appeal to true crime and mystery aficionados and readers interested in social and political commentary.