Murder For Love

william j. caunitz

No matter how much research an author does, no matter how meticulously facts are checked, no one can bring a sense of verisimilitude to a police story the way a cop can. Joseph Wambaugh was the first important author to illustrate this, but no one during the past decade has had greater success writing police stories than William J. Caunitz.

A New York City policeman for thirty years (well, actually twenty-nine years and a few months, since he retired from the force after the enormous success of his first novel, One Police Plaza), he worked his way up from patrolman to sergeant, during which time he saw as much as there was to see of the low side of human life. Apart from the bureaucracy that seems to pervade all government departments, he loved the life. His enthusiasm was conveyed to those around him, evidently, as one of his daughters has also become a police officer.

This is the first short story William J. Caunitz has ever written. Life-and, often, death-is too complex to try to describe in just a few pages, he says. But the passionate elements of life have been superbly conveyed in the pages that follow.

– O. P.