Joseph Wambaugh

The Blue Knight

Aging Los Angeles cop faces his final years on the street before retirement

About the author

Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Wambaugh

Joseph Wambaugh was a former LAPD detective whose raw, unromantic portrayals of police work in The New Centurions and The Choirboys transformed the police procedural genre. His work exposed the psychological toll of law enforcement with a candor that shocked readers used to idealized cop fiction. The Onion Field is considered one of the greatest true crime books ever written.

More by Joseph Wambaugh