Customer Reviews

Internal Affairs

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In general, I'm more concerned with the story than the biography of the author telling it, but in this case, Dial's twenty-seven-year career in the LAPD is relevant because it lends tremendous credibility to her debut novel, a police procedural set in the sprawling bureaucracy that is the Los Angeles Police Department. When a female police officer, Alexandra Williams, is found dead in the trunk of a car parked outside Deputy Chief McGann's home, it's a foregone conclusion that the investigation is going to be a mess. No one wants to deal with it, but it must be dealt with. When it turns out that McGann had been having an affair with the dead officer, Internal Affairs launches an investigation into the illicit relationship, while a parallel investigation in the Robbery Homicide Division teases out Alex's other relationships. Burned-out Sergeant Mike Turner, serving his time in IA and waiting for a promotion, ends up working the murder investigation, re-igniting his passion for police work and jeopardizing his relationship with promotion-minded girlfriend Lieutenant Paula Toscano. Turner is afraid that the police chief will protect McGann at the expense of the truth, so he walks a fine line between doing the right thing and keeping his job.

Dial's police officers run the gamut from decent people who make decent cops to a self-involved Chief of Police, to a spineless Captain, to cops who abuse their power. She doesn't give all the women in her fictional LAPD a pass, either, and I found that aspect of the novel particularly interesting. Sally uses her sex appeal to go after promotions, Captain Connelly was promoted only because she's a woman and she can't make a decision to save her life, Paula is determined and hard-working. I found Dial's portrayal of female police officers intriguing, and the diversity in quality really rang true.

This is the most illuminating police procedural novel I have ever read. Dial's long experience in various capacities with the LAPD puts the investigation in a solid context of bureaucracy that sometimes has to be finessed to serve justice. By the time Turner makes his decision to basically lie to his superior officer to keep working on the murder investigation, the reader understands why this is necessary to bring the truth to light. The particulars of the investigation detail dedicated surveillance, scanning of telephone records, and witness interviews that lead to the truth. This murder mystery is the perfect choice to make use of Dial's knowledge; since a cop is involved, Internal Affairs must be involved, complicating matters, and the department is caught between its mission of truth and justice and its desire to protect itself. The officers involved in the investigation have complex motives, and the backstabbing, promotion-mongering, and various relationships ring true. One wonders how many of these characters are based on real officers in Dial's past. She also portrays both sides of the bureaucracy; on the one hand, it provides the structure needed for such a massive organization to function, but it can also impede officers who are just trying to do what's right. Turner has to navigate the bureaucracy carefully, stepping outside it when necessary. Dial walks the civilian reader ably through the web of bureaucracy without being patronizing. An organizational chart and list of characters are very helpful to keeping the various departments straight.

There are certainly trade-offs in a novel that so elegantly portrays bureaucracy, organization, and structure. While I liked Mike Turner, I didn't feel particularly emotionally invested in him or the other characters. Part of the problem was a wandering point of view. Multiple points of view were necessary, but establishing Turner as the protagonist from the beginning would have been helpful. The novel begins from McGann's point of view, with Mike's point of view becoming dominant with the second chapter. Often, long sections of exposition substituted for more evocative scenes, especially when complex relationships were involved. Confrontations would be summarized instead of shown through dialogue, which would have been more powerful. Many of Turner's motivations are told, rather than demonstrated. In fact, when forty pages before the end, Turner is shown making an omelet for Paula and reflects that cooking relaxes him, I found myself wishing that more of these personal details had been revealed throughout the novel. I would have felt more connected to the characters as people, rather than as cogs in a wheel of bureaucracy.

That said, this was a cracking good read. The mystery was satisfyingly complex, with plenty of suspects and investigative threads that either didn't pan out or led to other clues. As the killer becomes more obvious, the focus shifts to Mike finding a way to prove it to the satisfaction of his boss, and that process, too, is interesting. I highly recommend this book to fans of police procedurals, anyone interested in an insider's look at the LAPD, and hard-boiled mystery readers.

Reading this book, it was clear to me that the author has inside knowledge of how police departments work. The book is a gritty crime thriller that starts when an LAPD Deputy Chief finds a gruesome dead body in the trunk of a car blocking his driveway. An Internal Affairs investigator, Mike Turner, teams up with Robbery Homicide detectives to investigate the crime. The plot is interwoven with a greater picture of the politics and hierarchy of the LAPD with a very large cast of characters. Although the insider's view of the inner workings of the police department is interesting and authentic, in certain spots this caused the plot to drag a little bit. At the end of the day, however, the murder investigation and compelling characters made this a great read. I would like to read more books involving Mike Turner and his RHD partner, Detective Montgomery.

LAPD Deputy Chief Jim McGann is irritated when he finds a car blocking his driveway as he goes for his morning run. He's downright angry when the car is still there on his return. Then he realizes that it's an unmarked cop car and it seems to be leaking blood. When the trunk is opened, it contains the naked body of a brutally murdered young woman, soon identified as Alexandra Williams, a beautiful young patrol officer who was briefly McGann's lover.

The affair violates departmental policy and Internal Affairs investigator Mike Turner gets the personnel complaint that follows. Chief of Police Sam Martin wants a quick resolution to the complaint, a resolution that includes a liberal dose of whitewash. Captain Nancy Connelly, Turner's boss, is spineless and indecisive and will not buck the Chief. But McGann has to be looked at in the murder investigation too, and the two inquiries are thus intertwined. That's okay with Turner, who relishes returning to real cop work by working with the homicide team. Besides, a young cop is dead and Turner wants the murderer.

Turner and his homicide cohorts, Montgomery and O'Neal, have to delve into the darker regions of the LAPD. The top brass' primary goal is to safeguard their careers. Secondarily, they want the Department to look good (see primary goal above). Third, they would like, if possible, to protect McGann (see first two goals above). Oh, and they would also like to catch the cop killer (see three goals above). Because the brass doesn't hesitate to hurt or destroy the careers of any cop whom they see as imperiling their three main goals, their attitudes impede the efforts of working cops. So does the endless bureaucracy and rules that have enmeshed the Department in recent years. How the homicide team works with, through and around these problems to get the truth is a large part of the story.

Dial uses the knowledge from her 27 year career in the LAPD, during which she went from patrol officer to division commander, very effectively. Her descriptions of the Department (regrettably) ring all too true. So do the conflicting loyalties and ethical problems that result. Dial's plotting is good, although in the end it turns a little too much on a hunch and on improbable revelations. But Dial's prose is fluid and clear, her main characters interesting and the story exciting throughout. A good book and a lot of promise for the future.

Connie Dial is the real thing. I served during the same time on the LAPD as she did. She currently is on the Los Angeles Police Relief Association Board of Directors where she oversees the Health Plan Benefits Administration for active and retired police officers.
Her description of the characters couldn't be more accurate. I'm sure those of us on the Department and those of us who were can identify the players she describes. We knew them well. Connie was able to hold my interest with the politics and the real police work that she had unfolding before us and the believability of their lives. The frustrations were real as were the fakers who pretend to be police officers. The ending was a surprise and not a neatly wrapped fairy tale ending.

I'm looking forward to her next novel. I think she has much more to offer in both storylines and her own growth as a writer. She will be up there with the best that I've had the pleasure to read. Nice work.

Using the knowledge of her twenty-seven year long career in the Los Angeles Police Department, author Connie Dial develops a complicated yet fascinating story of the LAPD's internal affairs. Sergeant Mike Turner is made the lead detective in an in-house murder investigation, when a young female officer is found dead in a car and the only real suspect is hot shot LAPD Deputy Chief Jim McGann. Turner is put on the case and almost immediately feels the pressure.

The story is thorough and the authors knowledge of the police department unbelievable apparent. A problem however falls upon the reader when words, phrases and abbreviations are constantly used to discuss police matters. I had to repeatedly remind myself or look up what things meant or stood for. The number of characters, which grow to become three or four entire branches of the police department, complicate things even further. If the story was told from one single point of view, it may be easier to follow. I found myself waiting for the chapters that were told by Sergeant Turner because I grew to like and trust him, while the other points of view grew tiresome.

If you can stay with the story, through the chaos and confusion of police jargon you will find a well weaved take of murder and corruption. The story is good it just takes some investigating of your own to stick with it. However, if you can, you will not be disappointed. Author Connie Dial writes what she knows and "Internal Affairs" benefits from her knowledge.

In her debut novel, former commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department [LAPD] Connie Dial uses her experience and knowledge to pen a mystery about the LAPD. By choosing the dichotomous title Dial is able to weave a novel revolving around an Internal Affairs investigation of the LAPD and etch an accurate, multifaceted portrait about the internal affairs of the LAPD. Internal Affairs is both a whodunit and a guide to what drives many of LAPD's finest. Internal Affairs is a rewarding, solid intrigue as the case gets increasingly complex and the players are reluctant to get involved in uncovering the truth as their own careers may be jeopardized. Internal Affairs provides a riveting glimpse, both expansive and specific, into what police officers might be going through on a daily, weekly and yearly basis in their careers. With Dial's backstage viewpoint, Internal Affairs provides a snapshot into the lifestyle. Most importantly, the novel delves into the feminist aspect of the police force and the LAPD with "The Mafia," a group of highly ranked women who meet weekly. Few women make it that far up in the ranks on any police force and Dial touches on this often [the unique challenges and prejudices these women face] in Internal Affairs.

Internal Affairs is an absorbing read for scores of reasons.

I found this an enjoyable first novel. It provided an insight into the staff interaction of the police force as only an insider could provide. Do be aware that the novel is more a study of interpersonal relations than a mystery. The murder is a sub plot.

I'll be interested to see how Ms. Dial develops as a writer and will certainly read her next effort.

Internal Affairs begins with the discovery of a policewoman, brutally murdered, and found in the trunk of a car. The car itself is an LAPD vehicle parked in the driveway of one of the deputy chiefs. Discovering who committed the vicious crime is the responsibility of Mike Turner, a non-conformist detective in LA's Internal Affairs division.

As the story develops, the reader is introduced to a variety of LAPD officers from beat cops to the chief of police. One of the striking features of the book is the characterization of the police force - they are, to a person, flawed (sometimes very flawed) individuals who come off as very authentic characters. Some are merely self-serving to one degree or another, others incompetent, and others positively venal. The LAPD presented here is one in which the motto "to protect and to serve" should be read to mean "to protect one another and to serve the bureaucracy." Indeed, almost the only sense of loyalty shown by the ranking officers is to the bureaucracy itself.

The plot moves from the discovery of the body, to tracing the complicated relationships amongst the upper echelons of police administration and the victim - who was hardly an innocent, to the final surprising conclusion. I admit that I was sure who the perpetrator was on two separate occasions but was wrong in the end.

Throughout the book the reader is exposed not only to the seamier side of the city of Los Angeles, but of the LAPD as well. One can see as characters step-by-step sacrifice some idealism or nobility for success in the LAPD organization. One wonders if the author has made enemies of any of her former colleagues who may see themselves in any of the book's characters.

Overall this was a very worthwhile read and quite good for a first book. I look forward to other books by Connie Dial.