home > mystery novel reviews > vertical coffin

Vertical Coffin

by Stephen J. Cannell

As Stephen Cannell tells us, Vertical Coffin refers to doorways, where most police meet their deaths. Mr. Cannell writes about the Los Angeles police department, giving his primary character Shane Scully some sensitivity as well as the (usually necessary) hard-boiled shell most members of 'Protect and Serve' have acquired. I'd be the first to admit the tough guy approach to writing isn't my cup of tea, and I wouldn't normally choose such a book to read or review. However, having lived in the LA area for a time, I was curious to learn how a writer other than Joseph Wambaugh handled a group of men who unfortunately include some malicious and despicable characters along with those who actually believe in what they're doing. The former have given the entire force a bad name – and Stephen Cannell certainly brings that out in his book.

Vertical Coffin begins with a clutch of motorcyclists – the 'Iron Pigs' - all of whom turn out to be members of the LA police. Of course there's a fight with another motorcycle gang – fights seem to be necessary for all tough guy or hard-boiled stories – but the respect for other members of the Iron Pigs is evident. When one of them is killed shortly afterwards in a 'vertical coffin' at a neighborhood called Hidden Ranch, it begins an internal war between federal and local officials with politicians mixed in.

Vincent Smiley is a psychotic who claims he's a member of the police, although he's actually been turned down by them due to his psychological background. He has, however, managed to collect a sizeable ammunition dump as well as the hardware to shoot it or set it off, and has being going around his neighborhood bragging about it and claiming to be part of the forces against terrorism. When Emo Rojas is sent to his home in Hidden Ranch to serve a warrant for impersonating an officer, he's shot and killed as soon as Smiley answers the door. Emo was one of the Iron Pigs and a friend of Shane Scully, the protagonist. It becomes evident that another group, separate from the LAPD, sent Emo to serve the warrant, knowing the whole time there might be trouble.

Thus begins the internal warfare between the Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, and various federal forces, along with local politicians. Vertical Coffin is riddled with acronyms, and although Stephen Cannell explains most of them initially, there are so many you tend to forget what they mean: Along with LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) there's the LASD, SEB, SWAT, ATF, SRT, CYA, DSG, IAD and God knows what else, along with totally unfamiliar types of weaponry.

Since an unrecognizable corpse with Smiley's DNA is found when the house at Hidden Ranch is burned to the ground, it's assumed he's dead, and only later does Scully discover that Smiley had a twin brother – and it's the brother who was incinerated in the fire while Smiley escaped. Determined to avenge his former friend Emo, Scully tracks him down – losing another partner in the process.

A sub-plot involving Scully's son Chooch as well as Scully's wife Alexa is interwoven with the hunt for Vincent Smiley. Chooch is in his last year of high school, with a girlfriend named Delfina, and opportunities of a football scholarship to college until he breaks his foot. Alexa is way above her husband in rank: She's the acting Head of Detective Services Group for the LAPD, and is being pressured from all sides to get Smiley and stop the internal bickering and accusations.

The final chapters and eventual elimination of Smiley involve Scully in mountain climbing and a harrowing situation inside a deserted Marine substation named Cactus West, where his cohort, Sonny Lopez, loses half of one leg. The end result, no thanks to the psychotic Smiley, is a number of funerals – and as Scully reiterates, he hates attending cop funerals!

I'm not aware of any relationship between Stephen J. Cannell and Dorothy
Cannell, and I doubt very much that there is one, although both are novelists. Dorothy writes funny English murder fiction with a lighthearted touch and was born in England (although she now lives in Illinois) while Stephen lives and writes his macho LAPD novels in Los Angeles, California. If you happen to be a Joseph Wambaugh fan, or are otherwise attracted to the more hard-boiled genre, by all means add Stephen Cannell to your 'must read' list. In spite of the plethora of acronyms, Mr. Cannell writes a fascinating story!

Alan Paul Curtis

back