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Hollywood Hills: Hollywood Station #4    by Joseph Wambaugh Amazon.com order for
Hollywood Hills
by Joseph Wambaugh
Order:  USA  Can
Little, Brown & Co., 2010 (2010)
Hardcover, CD
* * *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Hills, fourth in his Hollywood Station series, will join his long line of winning novels. LAPD officer Hollywood Nate has tried for years to break into pictures. At thirty-eight, he is afraid he is losing his edge of being young and hunky. Maybe Rudy Ressler, a director, will give him his big break. So he cuddles up to Ressler's fiancée, Leona Brueger, hoping a good word from her will help with his life's ambition.

Meanwhile, Raleigh Dibble, Leona's butler, is given the task of caring for Leona's brother-in-law at her late husband's estate. An art dealer friend of Raleigh's wants him to help substitute two copies of valuable paintings that hang in Leona's palatial house, in order to sell them in Europe for a large price.

At the same time, two druggies decide this would be an ideal house to rob, and the plot gets Keystone Kops funny. There are breaking and enterings that frustrate the police, who miss capturing the thieves by moments. More of the plot would ruin the ending so I won't go any farther except to say you do not want to miss this fun book.

The reader is treated to several shifts of the police working the streets. The happenings are bizarre enough to keep your funny bone tickled, although you do realize that these men and women are risking their lives out there every day. Live celebrities are mentioned when they've crossed the line. It is no wonder that Joseph Wambaugh was named Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America.

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