Petrella at 'Q' and Michael Gilbert

 

Here is Patrick Patrella, the same police officer (now detective) as featured in Blood and Judgement.  This book is a collection of short stories (published in 1977) which come together nicely so the book has a good story arc--very much like James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small in that each chapter introduces you to a new, very appealing character in an amusing (or perhaps not so amusing) situation and then they may (or may not) appear in a later story. But across each story we get introduced to a larger story that holds the short stories together. Petrella is now married and has one child, who is 4 years old, and his wife is pregnant with their second (in the earlier book he wasn't married yet and was living in a really crappy one room bachelor pad apartment that he rarely went home to).  He's also been promoted and so is responsible for both assigning tasks to his team mates and also training new hires.  The newbie we meet here that has the most to learn is an Eton graduate whose reactions to intense situations Petrella finds inexplicable--"unflappable" would be the polite way of describing him.  Also featured in these collections are various ethnic gangs, the most likable being the Irish ("Paddies") who focus on "moving goods" but take strong exception to those who "do nasty things" (the nature of which left to our imagination)--those people come from Poland, it would seem.  

These stories would make an excellent TV series--each story would fill out a great 2 hour episode and the book would build a wonderful season.  And the finale is a real nail biter.  I won't give away details but we are left wondering if Petrella's resignation letter (not his first--he resigns often) might actually stick this time as even the most dedicated cop gets to a point that enough is enough.