Publisher's Weekly
Los Angeles police officer, editor of The Thieftaker Journals and Shamus Award nominee, Bishop has the credentials to move into Joseph Wambaugh's neighborhood but has, so far, reached only the suburbs. Jack ''Calico'' Walker, amateur rodeo star, is about to wind up 30 years as an L.A. street cop. But before he retires to a commercial sport-fishing life with his teenage son, Calico falls in love with his very young female partner. And he issues a dare to a pair of ''bad-guy'' cops: he bets $5000 that he and his partner Tamiko can win an L.A.-to-Las Vegas-to-L.A. drag race in one 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. The target in Las Vegas is the Citadel Casino, which is also the target of Morgan Wales, a British crook who discovers that the casino manager is skimming from the casino owner. Cops, crooks and owner all converge at once, but it's a rather bland climax, as is the finish of the race itself. Two subplots involve a retarded barrio arsonist and a semi-crazed superior of Calico, they are fairly predictable too.

Genre: Mystery