Even though McBain is now one of the most celebrated authors of the police novel, he did not invent the genre, and it might be helpful to look at other American police novels and their European counterparts in order to get a perspective on his series. The work of Joseph Wambaugh, James Ellroy, and even Tony Hillerman provide exemplary examples of similar but differently cast views of modern police forces. Wambaugh's novels are grittier and more violent and routinely deal with the corruption in contemporary police departments. James Ellroy wrote several novels about the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1940s and early 1950s that have a period flavor. They, too, are harder-edged and are meaner works of fiction, and Ellroy's cops are more difficult to like. Unlike the members of the 87th, they are loose cannons in need of restraint. Tony Hillerman has created a...