5Joseph Wambaugh, the former LAPD detective, multiple New York Times best-seller, and MWA Grand Master, is known as "the father of the modern police novel" and now, in Harbor Nocturne, he has produced one of the outstanding books of the year. Some LAPD characters from the acclaimed Hollywood Station series are here: the surfer cops known as "Flotsam and Jetsam", aspiring actor "Hollywood Nate" Weiss, and young Britney Small, along with new members of the midwatch, all gamely coping with the wackiness of Hollywood. The story begins in the southernmost Los Angeles district of San Pedro, one of the world's busiest harbors, where an unlikely pair of lovers is caught up in terror and peril through no fault of their own.

When Dinko Babich, a young longshoreman, delivers Lita Medina, a young Mexican dancer, from the harbor to a Hollywood nightclub, his life is forever changed as an unexpectedly tender and moving love story develops. Comedy and tragedy are intertwined in the everyday life of the cops and residents of San Pedro Harbor.