Homicide Special: A Year with the LAPD's Elite Detective Unit

I did not have the updated epilogue--but I would recommend readers go for that edition of the book since it will be interesting to see what happened with the less well-known cases.

The premise here is that a journalist embeds with LAPD's elite homicide detective unit (only the complex, hard, or notorious cases, and those involving celebrities), Homicide Special, and watch the detectives do their work. Corwin weaves in the backstories of the detectives, the LAPD, the evolution of Homicide Special, Los Angeles, the suspects, and the victims. So while you're stuck in one arbitrary year, there is a lot of context skillfully weaved throughout.

The book reads almost like a novel spinning through multiple iterations of the first half of a Law & show more Order episode, but of course it's all the real deal. As such, it is a fascinating look at big city homicide work that "fortunately" for Corwin included the opening stages of the Robert Blake murder investigation as well as the bizarre saga of Robert Durst.

If you like that sort of thing--I do--then this will be a must read. show less

I started "Homicide Special" yesterday afternoon, and literally could not do anything else until I finished it several hours later. I hated for it to end. A reader gets an honest feel for the rhythm of detective work, and realizes how months of work can be undone by a careless mistake (even one made decades ago in a long dormant case) or by a clerk who inadvertently destroys old evidence.
The author is scrupulously fair to the police and gives a realistic snapshot of contemporary Los Angeles with its international mix of cultures. Several of these bizarre cases prove the old saw that truth IS stranger than fiction. Corwin is one of the best at putting you at the scene without calling attention to himself. I'd recommend this to anyone show more interested in police work -- or good journalism. show less

A great police book that conveys the daily drudgery of crime solving and the frustrations of working in a system where there isn’t enough money to hire experts or pay overtime.

Homicide Special is the unit of the LAPD that deals with the most brutal, controversial, or any case involving celebrities. Corwin takes us from Malibu to Pico-Rivera following leads on several cases. I also found it fascinating to learn about what REALLY goes down at the LAPD.

Every police department has a Homicide or Violent Crimes Unit but in Los Angeles particularly gruesome or spectacular homicides are assigned to the "Homicide Special" Unit. This book follows the dectectives for some of these cases including the Black Dahlia case and, the murder of Robert "Baretta" Blake's wife Bonny Lee Bakely. If you're a true crime buff, you'll enjoy this book.

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