Police Procedural's similar to the Wire

[fpm919]

I just finished binge watching The Wire and I'd love to find a novel that has some of the same investigation types they used. Something about a unit of people undertaking a long investigation using surveillance, wire taps, etc. Does anyone have any good recommendations for me? I appreciate the help.

[Mike L]

I don't know anything about The Wire, but the classic police procedurals are the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain.

I recently heard a retired police detective say that every police procedural he had ever seen or read was wildly inaccurate, but McBain does have a good reputation for getting things right.

Mike

[Pulpmeister]

I remember Hilary Waugh's police procedurals from years ago. (An American author, no relation to Evelyn Waugh or his brother Alec)

[Mike L]

Another one I can definitely recommend is Gideon's Day by John Creasey. It was originally published as Gideon of the Yard, the "Yard" being Scotland Yard of course. I think they changed the name to match the excellent film version (Jack Hawkins played Gideon). It's a pure procedural, with a few exciting twists, but no mystery element.

In fact, Creasey wrote a whole series of Gideon novels, but this is the only one I've read (so far).

Mike

[Lynx-lynx]

I've thought of a couple of books that you might like:

The Killing, Parts I, II and III
David Hewson

These books were written after the fantastic Danish tv series was written and shown to world wide applause. Haven't read the books, but have seen all three tv series. You couldn't ask for a better police procedural in my opinion.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson


This book is what the 3 films of the series is based on. It's not a police procedural, it's about an investigative journalist who is invited to discover the truth behind a family secret. This book and the movies are very highly regarded. The book is set in Sweden.

Enjoy

Edit
I loved The Wire TV series

[Mike L]

Lynx-lynx, I have to disagree with you.

I saw the original Danish TV version of The Killing (all three series). They were truly excellent. I didn't know there was a book of the series, but if it's half as good as the TV, it would definitely be worth reading.

But by no stretch of the imagination can it be called a police procedural. Sarah Lund is about as far from a police detective as you can get. And the way in which the team follows up flimsy clues, arrests and interrogates suspects, gets emotionally involved in the cases, and generally runs around achieving nothing - who can believe any detective force, anywhere in the world, would behave like that?

The same is even more true of Stieg Larsson's trilogy. Again, these are excellent stories, and highly entertaining. But they have no possible basis in reality. When it comes to accuracy, the police methods are totally implausible, and the final courtroom scene is nothing short of ridiculous.

This is not a criticism of either of your recommendations. My point is that a police procedural is supposed to give insights into how a real police force would go about solving a case. Neither The Killing nor the Larsson books can make any claim to doing that.

Mike

[tompe]

I really like Stuart MacBride. It is police procedurals. Start with the first book in the series which is Cold Granite.