Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. (born Jan 22, 1937) is a best-selling American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States. He has been nominated for four Edgar Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. Wambaugh's perspective on police work led to his first novel, The New Centurions, which was published early in 1971 to critical acclaim and popular success. Soon turning to writing full time, Wambaugh was prolific and popular starting in the 1970s. He mixed writing novels (The Blue Knight, The Choirboys, The Black Marble) with nonfiction accounts of crime and detection (true crime): The Onion Field. His later books included The Glitter Dome, The Delta Star and Lines and Shadows. Less