The Tin Collectors
A Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling novelist and award-winning Hollywood producer weaves a high-tension novel of suspense around a chilling conspiracy of corruption within the LAPD, reminiscent of the classic movie "Chinatown."
Inside the department, they're called Tin Collectors: Internal Affairs Agents, the police of the police. If they catch you breaking the rules, they'll come after your badge. If they want you badly enough, they'll collect more than just your tin.
LAPD Detective Shane Scully is startled awake in the middle of the night by a call from his ex-partner's wife, who is being beaten by her abusive husband. Racing to their house to stop the fight, Scully ends up killing his ex-partner, a cop who is beloved within the department. Suddenly, Scully finds himself an outcast, shunned by his fellow cops who intend to exact vengeance no matter what the cost. Internal Affairs zeroes in on the "renegade" cop with their sharpest young prosecutor, the ice queen Alexa Hamilton, who has her own reasons for taking revenge on Scully.
Desperate to save his career, Scully starts kicking over rocks within the LAPD. What he uncovers is pure evil: a conspiracy going to the very top that ultimately threatens not just his own life but that of a young teenage boy, Chooch, entrusted to Scully's care by his mother - Sandy Sandoval. Known as the Black Widow, Sandy is a beautiful and courageous woman who also happens to be the LAPD's most important undercover informant, and Scully will do anything to keep her son safe. Stephen J. Cannell combines mystery and violence, loyalty and passion in a tale with an ending as unpredictable as LA itself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Author (King Con) and Emmy Award-winning TV writer Cannell (The Rockford Files) continues his string of commercially appealing suspense novels with an offbeat, action-driven police drama about high-level corruption in the LAPD. This time around, Cannell fans will discover a refreshingDand newly sprungDconcern for his characters' motivations. Sgt. Shane Scully, a well-decorated L.A. detective, receives a late-night phone call from Barbara Molar, a former girlfriend and current wife of Shane's ex-partner, Ray. Ray has a history of violence, and right now he is trying to kill Barbara. Without waiting for backup, Shane runs to the rescue and is forced to kill Ray in self-defense. Fully expecting to be vindicated after a routine debriefing, instead Shane finds himself persona non grata with fellow officers and the mayor. He's a murder suspect, and he's accused of stealing sensitive case files that Ray was working on at home. The case is referred to Shane's former nemesis Alexa Hamilton, a legendary "tin collector" at Internal Affairs. In a subplot, Shane helps out Sandy Sandoval, a call girl turned police informant, with her confused, angry son. Sandy is involved in a sting operation and enlists Shane's help as a role model for 15-year-old Chooch, who is on the verge of being expelled from private school. While helping Chooch mature and defending his own career, Shane suddenly discovers that Alexa is really a secret ally. The pair, now tentative lovers, follow a convoluted trail exposing political land graft. Exhibiting a new sensitivity to his characters' emotional depth, Cannell continues to improve as a novelist.
