I just finished reading this hard-hitting, police procedural last night, and I gotta say that I enjoyed it. With passages like; "He sat forward, almost on the edge of his seat, his legs tucked close to the black cane, his gimlet eyes glittering like diamonds. When he wanted, his voice had the lilt of Irish flavored with molasses, a voice you listened to and wanted to believe. It could also be as tough as a cowhand's behind."or "He was wrapped around her like kudzu around a telephone pole"The whole thing read like an old Cagney movie, and I enjoy it from cover to cover. Definately *not* "chick-lit"; some very graphic scenes and flashbacks from Vietnam. I liked it enough that I would probably read others by Diehl.