RECENTLY FINISHED: Once Were Cops by Ken Bruen. I've been on a bit of a tear with Ken Bruen lately. This was the ninth Bruen novel I've read this year. Granted, Bruen tends to write short novels so it's really only like three “regular” novels, but I love Bruen's stripped-down style so much I feel like…
Major Crimes returns to TNT this Monday night, June 8th at 9:00 pm to begin its fourth season. All of the important and favorite characters are returning, including Mary McDonnell and a terrific ensemble cast including G.W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Raymond Cruz, Kearran Giovani, Jonathan Del Arco and Michael Paul Chan. This show pulls off…
Skies of Ash by Rachel Howzell Hall is the 2nd police procedural in the Detective Elouise Norton series set in Los Angeles where a deadly house fire looks a lot like murder (available May 19, 2015). The luscious and wise cracking Detective Elouise Norton is in a personal quandary when this LAPD police procedural Skies…
After the July 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, Warner Bros. pulled all Gangster Squad trailers (they featured a movie theater shootout between the Squad and Mickey Cohen’s henchmen), decided to postpone the Gangster Squad release date, and refilmed part of the movie to eliminate the movie theater shootout. This is the trailer for…
Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman is a true crime novel based on the experiences of eight covert cops waging war on L.A.’s biggest gangsters (available July 31, 2012). In the late 1940s, a secret squad was created inside the Los Angeles Police Department. Eight men were tasked with keeping “eastern hoodlums” from taking over L.A.…
At Criminal Element, we like our memes. We also happen to like Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad, so what’s a Crime HQ agent to do but make our own “Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling” memes, of course! We’re big fedora fans, and the new Gangster Squad trailer is filled with ’em. Plus we’re loving the story…
We’re just getting our feet wet (wingtips wet? brogues? Dapper haberdasher Mickey Cohen would know) with Gangster Squad. As a result, I’m diving into the original L.A. Times articles by Paul Lieberman upon which the movie’s based. In case you’re a true crime/noir junky, or just love the period, there are loads of fascinating, specific…
Hey…why does the bad guy look like he’s the one with the halo? Because it’s Chinatown. At least the time and place and stink of corruption are about right. Gangster Squad is an upcoming movie about an LAPD squad assembled and working off the books from 1946 through the 1950s to prevent the incursion of…
Tonight, we will be reminded what conflicted, miserable lives we all led before DVR’s. Tonight, a trio of toddling young crime shows, all Seasons 3 or 4, return simul-freaking-taneously at 10-danged-o’clock, so even with dual tuners, we may still have to ask a friend to babysit one on their tuner or even to watch one…
The Daily Mail has the scoop about action star Lucy Liu’s stint filming Southland on location in Los Angeles, decked out as LAPD (note the vest’s bulk beneath her shirt) and cruising the streets with partner Michael Cudlitz (most recently seen in Silent Witness): After spending a day cruising through the crime-infested South Central part…
