Rege Behe at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review talks to Joseph Wambaugh about his East Pittsburgh background, his years as an LAPD cop and his latest novel, Harbor Nocturne.
Perhaps the key to Wambaugh's success as a fiction writer lies in the truth of his work. He never strikes a false note because it is all true. Although he resigned as an Los Angeles policeman in 1974 after 14 years of service, he maintains friendships with his peers and develops relationships with succeeding generation of officers, or "coppers" as he lovingly refers to them.
It is their stories he tells, and the more than 50 people he thanks in the acknowledgements of "Harbor Nocturne" are proof of his ongoing quest for veracity.
"All the anecdotes in the book came from them," Wambaugh says. "I didn't invent anything. I just take the material they give me, and I shape it. I don't have the imagination to come up with all of this stuff with each book. My gosh, I couldn't write anything without these people."
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/s_792382.html
You can also read my review of Joseph Wambaugh's Harbor Nocturne, which appeared in the Washington Times, via the below link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/20/book-review-harbor-nocturne/?page=all#pagebreak
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