The biographical sketch on the inside back cover of THE TIN COLLECTORS, Stephen J. Cannell's latest novel, indicates that he has had a 35 year career. This brought me up a bit short; he can't have been in "The Biz" for 35 years --- could he? I thought about it for a moment, started counting, quickly ran out of fingers and toes, got out the calculator and...son of a gun, 35 years might be a bit light. Movie scripts, television series, and now novels. The Man has done it all, and done it well. And while Cannell has been a major force in television for decades, his forays into the publishing arena have been fairly recent. He has, however, brought the same professionalism and skills that he infused into his television creations to the printed page. Cannell's first novel, THE PLAN, was good; he has progressively gotten better, making each successive novel substantially different in setting and plot from the last.

It is merely a point of preference that I enjoy mostly those of Cannell's novels that are set close to home. THE TIN COLLECTORS more than adequately fits that description, being set almost entirely in Los Angeles and southern California (except for a brief, but significant, foray into south Florida). LAPD Police Detective Shane Scully receives a late night call from Barbara Molar, the wife of Scully's ex-partner Ray Molar. She is frantic; Ray is in a rage and is beating her. She begs Scully to come over and try to calm her husband down. Scully, though initially reluctant, is concerned and goes to the Molars' home. Molar, however, is enraged to see his ex-partner and attacks him as well. Scully, in self-defense, shoots and kills Molar in a by-the-numbers incident. Unfortunately for Scully, Molar was a well-liked, almost legendary cop.

Scully almost immediately becomes a pariah on the force and is inexplicably made the target of an internal affairs investigation. Making matters worse is the fact that Alexa Hamilton, once the IAD Top Gun, is brought back to handle the investigation. There is a history here; one of the few cases Ms. Hamilton lost involved Scully, and she is itching to even the score. Complicating matters is that Scully has been supervising Chooch Sandoval, the troubled 15-year-old son of a friend, who is one careless act away from juvenile detention. With everyone seemingly against him, Scully begins an investigation of his own to try to determine what Ray Molar was into. He soon discovers that Molar was apparently on a special assignment and that some of the evidence that Molar gathered is now missing --- evidence that now is believed to be in the possession of Shane Scully. Scully also discovers that his former partner was involved in matters that reveal corruption to be present in the highest levels of the LAPD --- and beyond. No one believes Scully --- at first. Then he receives some assistance from a very unexpected source. He is, however, putting himself and Chooch into terrible danger.

If Cannell continues to write books of the caliber of THE TIN COLLECTORS, he may soon find himself known as an author who also creates television series, rather than the converse. THE TIN COLLECTORS demonstrates Cannell's ability to meld believable and sympathetic characters into a dynamic plotline, while moving things along at a frenetic, suspenseful pace. Very highly recommended.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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