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Rating: 
Summary: Everybody's a Child Molester or Victim in This Book!
Review: I was a cop of some sort for over 30 years, and don't believe I've ever read a book with such a far-fetched plot or cast of characters. From the judge to his high-profile law partner, virtually everyone is a pedophile. If they're not a pedophile, then they've were molested when they were the operative age, which is conveniently about the age of several dozen children who come to the USA via some underground pipeline. Mr. Bishop truly does a great job of developing characters and building the story. However, the complexity of the story and the subtle nuances he continually throws in finally reaches a point where, if you don't read it all in one setting or a few nights, you completely lose track of what...is happening. I certainly liked some parts of the book, but the cover describes Mr. Bishop as "the new Joseph Wambaugh", or something similar, and that is certainly not the case....
Rating:
Summary: Everybody's a Child Molester or Victim in This Book!
Review: I was a cop of some sort for over 30 years, and don't believe I've ever read a book with such a far-fetched plot or cast of characters. From the judge to his high-profile law partner, virtually everyone is a pedophile. If they're not a pedophile, then they've were molested when they were the operative age, which is conveniently about the age of several dozen children who come to the USA via some underground pipeline. Mr. Bishop truly does a great job of developing characters and building the story. However, the complexity of the story and the subtle nuances he continually throws in finally reaches a point where, if you don't read it all in one setting or a few nights, you completely lose track of what...is happening. I certainly liked some parts of the book, but the cover describes Mr. Bishop as "the new Joseph Wambaugh", or something similar, and that is certainly not the case....
Rating: 
Summary: Best Crime FIction Novel Of The Year
Review: Los Angeles police veteran Paul Bishop's fourth Fey Croaker novel finds the LAPD detective promoted to robbery/homicide, where she heads up her old team in investigating the torture death of a black woman lawyer, Bianca Flynn, who helped run an illegal underground railroad to hide sexually abused children from predatory parents exonerated by the courts.Gritty, sometimes over-the-top (but it works) writing propels this fast-paced procedural, exposing a conspiracy of power players in child sex abuse and exploring the uncertainties in nasty divorce cases. Croaker confronts her own abused childhood in an interconnected subplot, which includes a suitcase of money, a newly discovered sibling and a romance. Bishop's secondary characters, particularly Croaker's team, are skillfully drawn and the quirky dynamic partnerships drive the police work. Intuitive thinking, luck, perseverance and distracted mistakes play crucial parts in this hard-boiled, action-packed series.
Rating: 
Summary: Fey Croaker gets promoted
Review: Paul Bishop has been writing cop novels for about a decade now. He started with a book that was a better premise than a novel, about a pair of patrolmen trying to win a bet by driving their patrol car from LA to Las Vegas and back in one shift without anyone noticing. It wasn't quite as good as it sounds. He's written several books since, trying different characters. One was a detective who was also a soccer player or something. The one he seems to have finally decided is a hit is Fey Croaker, who gets called Frog Lady (frogs croak) and who's been assigned to LAPD's West Side Division for three books. In this fourth entry, the author appparently decided to up the ante and promote her, and her "team", to Robbery Homicide Division downtown. This was the first of several annoyances in this book. I don't know this, but I suspect that LAPD is like any other large organization: they don't transfer teams like this around their department's organizational structure. Now there are mitigating circumstances: Bishop mentions an outgoing chief of police, and a new one trying to shake things up. Still it was hard for me to buy that they would do this. Next, no sooner do Fey and her cohorts get downtown than they are assigned a real hot potato: the torture-murder of a prominent black woman who's an attorney and child molestation crusader, and also the sister of a police commissioner, and the daughter of a judge. Soon, the case develops into a hunt for missing children who have entered an "underground railroad" where they are spirited away from abusive parents who have the law on their side. Just in case things weren't complex enough, the case also takes a historical turn, with a bloody armored car robbery and a shootout involving the police and the Black Panthers from almost thirty years ago proving to be connected with the case. There are interesting, if a bit eccentric, characters throughout the book. The cops are fun, and well-defined. The dialog is well-written. The plot is a bit like something Michael Connelly or Jeffrey Deaver would concoct. Everything's logical and believable, but at the end you wonder if anything this complex ever occurs, and if it does, do the detectives on the case ever solve them? Given that, I did enjoy the book, and would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent police procedural
Review: The new police chief of the LAPD plans to turn the department into a model for other police forces to emulate. He promotes homicide detective Fey Croaker and her team to a newly formed special cell of the prestigious Robbery-Homicide Division. Other officers are enraged by this preferential treatment and refuse to cooperate with the new team. Someone tortured and killed a black woman, but the victim was considered a call girl and the case given low priority. Two days later, the deceased is identified as child advocate attorney Blanca Flynn, the daughter of a judge nominated for a seat on the California Supreme Court and the sister to a police commissioner. The trail is cold when Fey and her crew are assigned the case. The victim had a lot of enemies, including her estranged husband and father, both of whom she accused of being pediophiles. As Fey investigates, the case stirs up buried memories from her own past that, if she is not careful, could taint her inquires. Paul Bishop's police procedurals are some of the best works on the market today as he employs his twenty-three years with the LAPD to turn his exciting story lines into authentic, believable tales. With the recent headlines in LA, the relevancy of CHALK WHISPERS is obvious as the investigation is delayed until the status of the victim is known. The clever mystery is filled with strong characterizations, especially the five lead protagonists (Fey and her team). Readers experience their triumphs and fears as the audience senses what the quintet feels. If justice prevails, this book will gain its due, as it deserves best seller status. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This book had everything: intrigue, graphic details of a bloody murder, and the biting sarcasm of Fey Croaker. It is a true work of art. Ironically it was the first of the series I had read, so now I am scrambling to read the other books. To anybody who is a fan of the NBC TV show LAW & ORDER, I recomend this book.
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