The Secrets of Harry Bright (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Secrets of Harry Bright is the seventh novel
written by former Los Angeles Police Department
detective Joseph Wambaugh
. Published in 1985, the book continues a pattern of Wambaugh crime fiction
beginning with The Choirboys that uses black humor to explore the psychological effects of prolonged stress on veteran police officers. As with all his novels, The Secrets of Harry Bright, set in November 1984, is contemporaneous with the time frame in which it was written and includes numerous allusions and references to events and personalities of the time.
The Secrets of Harry Bright also continued Wambaugh's satirization of the mores and extravagances of the Southern California
"rich and famous" lifestyle that began with The Black Marble, in addition to its focus on police work. The novel, set in and around Palm Springs, California
, savages a wealthy "occasional home" mentality characterized by golf, excessive drinking and drug use, and discriminatory
country club
s. Wambaugh draws contrasts by depicting the fictional Mineral Springs, a small wind-swept desert town populated not just by blue-collar tourist industry workers, but "ex-cons, bikers, crank dealers, Palm Springs burglars, nudists, robbers and pimps, horny kite pilots, dopers and drunks."
The Secrets of Harry Bright first appeared on the New York Times best seller list
on October 6, 1985, ranked 15th, and rose as high as 5th. It spent a total of 17 weeks on the list.
d but dissipated detective sergeant whose age and police experience mirror that of Wambaugh himself, and where he likely would have been had he not resigned from the LAPD.
Wambaugh introduces a new psychological theme in The Secrets of Harry Bright, that of the relationship of fathers and sons, exploring it as a sub-theme to those of burnout
and police suicide that characterized his previous novels. He uses as a vehicle for this what he describes as the "unnatural perversion" of sons dying before their fathers, which has affected three key figures in his story. Although a murder whodunit
, the plot is secondary to the gradual revelation of its central character, Sidney Blackpool. The title persona, Harry Bright, is seen only through the descriptions of others until the dénouement
of the novel, when he becomes a crucial clue to Blackpool's fate.
in a notorious, unsolved Palm Springs homicide in which the body was found in Solitaire Canyon, a notorious biker hangout within Mineral Springs. While Paco unenthusiastically prepares for a visit by an LAPD homicide team, desert rat drunkard Beavertail Bigelow, the object of a prank by one of Paco's cops, stumbles across an antique ukelele in the desert that will become a key piece of evidence in the renewed investigation.
On election day 1984 in Los Angeles, LAPD Sgt. Sidney Blackpool is invited to the corporate office of high tech industrialist Victor Watson, who son Jack was the victim in the Palm Springs homicide. Over drinks, Watson tells Blackpool he pulled strings with LAPD to arrange for Blackpool to investigate a new lead that tenuously ties the case to Blackpool's jurisdiction in Hollywood. Blackpool suspects that the lead is a pretext to draw in the resources of LAPD after both Palm Springs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
failed to solve the case. Watson knows that Blackpool's son died at approximately the same time, and using that to engage his sympathies, persuades Blackpool to work the case as part of an expenses-paid golf vacation for himself and his partner, Otto Stringer, in Palm Springs. His inducement is a suggested promise of a retirement job for Blackpool as head of security for Watson Industries.
During the search for the missing Jack Watson, Officer O.A. Jones of Mineral Springs PD became lost in the desert, where he accidentally became a witness in the investigation, and in finding the lost O.A. Jones, other officers found the victim's body in a burned out car. While O.A. Jones tries to unravel his delerium
recollections of a song he overhead being sung at the crime scene, other officers confiscate the ukelele, which Bigelow has sold to another desert rat, as the weapon used in a domestic violence
case.
Blackpool and Stringer check into a posh Palm Springs hotel with $10,000 in $500 bills
("President McKinley
s") as expense money. Their investigation starts slowly, as both are more interested in vacation amenities than work. After a visit to the Watson house, where they interview the live-in "houseboy", Harlan Penrod, and then a phone call to the Palm Springs PD, the investigation picks up speed as both conclude that a kidnapping was highly unlikely and try to figure out why Jack Watson would have gone to Solitaire Canyon.
Harlan provides a photo of Jack with a possible suspect. The investigation, with rounds of golf sandwiched in between, takes them to the Mineral Springs PD, the Eleven Ninety-nine Club (a cop bar in Mineral Springs), a gay bar in Palm Springs, a biker's shack in Solitaire Canyon, the Thunderbird Country Club, and a nursing home in Indio
. The ukelele and the LAPD cops intersect at the cop bar, where Blackpool makes the connection linking it to O.A. Jones's memory. As suspects are investigated and eliminated as possibilities, Sidney Blackpool and Otto are forced to confront the possibility that either of two sergeants of the Mineral Springs PD, Harry Bright or Coy Brickman, might be Jack Watson's killer.
A tryst with Harry Bright's ex-wife provides the final clues for Sidney Blackpool, who confronts Paco Pedroza with his suspicions. After a heated confrontation, Pedroza agrees to cooperate in arranging ballistics
tests of his officers' pistols but before that can take place, fate intervenes. Blackpool and Otto confront Coy Brickman, who reveals a hypothetical solution to the case to avoid implicating himself, tying off all loose ends raised by the investigation. Blackpool demands to see for himself proof of Harry Bright's invalid condition, which is far worse than he had considered. Afterwards, Otto washes his hands of the case and returns to Los Angeles without Sidney Blackpool, who takes the information to Victor Watson. When the interview shatters Blackpool, Sidney returns to Mineral Springs and finally discovers Harry Bright's secret.
s of police officer "types" he either observed personally or the subjects of anecdotes related to him by officers. In The Secrets of Harry Bright the officers of the small, fictional Mineral Springs Police Department fill this role. The common thread linking them is their status as misfits elsewhere, and that all were recommended by Sgt. Harry Bright for hiring. Wambaugh expands his lampoons in The Secrets of Harry Bright to include two episodes depicting wealthy retired country clubbers, Archie Rosenkrantz and Fiona Grout, encountered by Blackpool and Stringer on golf courses.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by former Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
detective Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. is a bestselling American writer known for his fictional and non-fictional accounts of police work in the United States...
. Published in 1985, the book continues a pattern of Wambaugh crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
beginning with The Choirboys that uses black humor to explore the psychological effects of prolonged stress on veteran police officers. As with all his novels, The Secrets of Harry Bright, set in November 1984, is contemporaneous with the time frame in which it was written and includes numerous allusions and references to events and personalities of the time.
The Secrets of Harry Bright also continued Wambaugh's satirization of the mores and extravagances of the Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
"rich and famous" lifestyle that began with The Black Marble, in addition to its focus on police work. The novel, set in and around Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
, savages a wealthy "occasional home" mentality characterized by golf, excessive drinking and drug use, and discriminatory
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
country club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
s. Wambaugh draws contrasts by depicting the fictional Mineral Springs, a small wind-swept desert town populated not just by blue-collar tourist industry workers, but "ex-cons, bikers, crank dealers, Palm Springs burglars, nudists, robbers and pimps, horny kite pilots, dopers and drunks."
The Secrets of Harry Bright first appeared on the New York Times best seller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
on October 6, 1985, ranked 15th, and rose as high as 5th. It spent a total of 17 weeks on the list.
Themes
As with his other novels beginning with The Black Marble, Wambaugh spins his tale from numerous points of view, but has as its central character and protagonist a competent, middle ageMiddle age
Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....
d but dissipated detective sergeant whose age and police experience mirror that of Wambaugh himself, and where he likely would have been had he not resigned from the LAPD.
Wambaugh introduces a new psychological theme in The Secrets of Harry Bright, that of the relationship of fathers and sons, exploring it as a sub-theme to those of burnout
Burnout
Burnout or burn-out may refer to:*Burnout , a psychological term for a syndrome characterized by long-term exhaustion and diminished interest, especially in one's career*Burnout , when a vehicle's tires are spun so they smoke...
and police suicide that characterized his previous novels. He uses as a vehicle for this what he describes as the "unnatural perversion" of sons dying before their fathers, which has affected three key figures in his story. Although a murder whodunit
Whodunit
A whodunit or whodunnit is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader or viewer is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final...
, the plot is secondary to the gradual revelation of its central character, Sidney Blackpool. The title persona, Harry Bright, is seen only through the descriptions of others until the dénouement
Detective denouement
The detective dénouement is a variant on the literary dénouement common to mystery stories. It was first popularised by the Sherlock Holmes novels, but is present in many stories, such as the works of Agatha Christie or in Ellen Raskin's young adult novel The Westing Game.In detective stories, the...
of the novel, when he becomes a crucial clue to Blackpool's fate.
Plot summary
Paco Pedroza is chief of police in Mineral Springs, California, a small nondescript desert town near Palm Springs. The Los Angeles Police Department informs him that they have developed a new leadClue
Clue may refer to:* Cluedo , a crime fiction board game** Clue , based on the board game** Clue , based on the board game** Clue , based on the board game...
in a notorious, unsolved Palm Springs homicide in which the body was found in Solitaire Canyon, a notorious biker hangout within Mineral Springs. While Paco unenthusiastically prepares for a visit by an LAPD homicide team, desert rat drunkard Beavertail Bigelow, the object of a prank by one of Paco's cops, stumbles across an antique ukelele in the desert that will become a key piece of evidence in the renewed investigation.
On election day 1984 in Los Angeles, LAPD Sgt. Sidney Blackpool is invited to the corporate office of high tech industrialist Victor Watson, who son Jack was the victim in the Palm Springs homicide. Over drinks, Watson tells Blackpool he pulled strings with LAPD to arrange for Blackpool to investigate a new lead that tenuously ties the case to Blackpool's jurisdiction in Hollywood. Blackpool suspects that the lead is a pretext to draw in the resources of LAPD after both Palm Springs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
failed to solve the case. Watson knows that Blackpool's son died at approximately the same time, and using that to engage his sympathies, persuades Blackpool to work the case as part of an expenses-paid golf vacation for himself and his partner, Otto Stringer, in Palm Springs. His inducement is a suggested promise of a retirement job for Blackpool as head of security for Watson Industries.
During the search for the missing Jack Watson, Officer O.A. Jones of Mineral Springs PD became lost in the desert, where he accidentally became a witness in the investigation, and in finding the lost O.A. Jones, other officers found the victim's body in a burned out car. While O.A. Jones tries to unravel his delerium
Delerium
Delerium is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act, Front Line Assembly...
recollections of a song he overhead being sung at the crime scene, other officers confiscate the ukelele, which Bigelow has sold to another desert rat, as the weapon used in a domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
case.
Blackpool and Stringer check into a posh Palm Springs hotel with $10,000 in $500 bills
Large denominations of United States currency
The base currency of the United States is the U.S. dollar, and is printed on bills in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.At one time, however, it also included five larger denominations. High-denomination currency was prevalent from the very beginning of U.S. Government issue...
("President McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
s") as expense money. Their investigation starts slowly, as both are more interested in vacation amenities than work. After a visit to the Watson house, where they interview the live-in "houseboy", Harlan Penrod, and then a phone call to the Palm Springs PD, the investigation picks up speed as both conclude that a kidnapping was highly unlikely and try to figure out why Jack Watson would have gone to Solitaire Canyon.
Harlan provides a photo of Jack with a possible suspect. The investigation, with rounds of golf sandwiched in between, takes them to the Mineral Springs PD, the Eleven Ninety-nine Club (a cop bar in Mineral Springs), a gay bar in Palm Springs, a biker's shack in Solitaire Canyon, the Thunderbird Country Club, and a nursing home in Indio
Indio
Indio may refer to:* Indio, California* Indio, person of indigenous peoples of the Americas* The Spanish Colonial racial term for the native Austronesian peoples of the Philippines between the 16th and 19th centuriesSpecific people:...
. The ukelele and the LAPD cops intersect at the cop bar, where Blackpool makes the connection linking it to O.A. Jones's memory. As suspects are investigated and eliminated as possibilities, Sidney Blackpool and Otto are forced to confront the possibility that either of two sergeants of the Mineral Springs PD, Harry Bright or Coy Brickman, might be Jack Watson's killer.
A tryst with Harry Bright's ex-wife provides the final clues for Sidney Blackpool, who confronts Paco Pedroza with his suspicions. After a heated confrontation, Pedroza agrees to cooperate in arranging ballistics
Ballistics
Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.A ballistic body is a body which is...
tests of his officers' pistols but before that can take place, fate intervenes. Blackpool and Otto confront Coy Brickman, who reveals a hypothetical solution to the case to avoid implicating himself, tying off all loose ends raised by the investigation. Blackpool demands to see for himself proof of Harry Bright's invalid condition, which is far worse than he had considered. Afterwards, Otto washes his hands of the case and returns to Los Angeles without Sidney Blackpool, who takes the information to Victor Watson. When the interview shatters Blackpool, Sidney returns to Mineral Springs and finally discovers Harry Bright's secret.
Main characters
- Sgt. Sidney Blackpool - 42 years old, divorced, and with Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for 21 years, Blackpool is a homicide detective in Hollywood. He is known as "Black Sid" to his peers because of an excessive fondness for Johnnie WalkerJohnnie WalkerJohnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch Whisky owned by Diageo and originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country with yearly sales of over 130 million bottles.-History:Originally known as Walker's...
Black Label Scotch whisky, and he is still reeling from the accidental death of his 18-year-old son Tommy in a surfingSurfingSurfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
accident fourteen months before. Sidney is tormented nightly by bad dreamsNightmareA nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror...
that include floating coffins and Tommy's resurrection as a young boy, which leave him sobbing and emotionally defenseless to cope with the loss. - Det. Otto Stringer - Blackpool's partner, about to turn forty, balding and overweight. Otto transferred to Homicide two months before, after a long tenure as a narcotics detective, as a result of several brushes with death. He and Blackpool are old friends, having been partners twelve years before as uniformed cops. Stringer loves luxury but is practically bankrupt after two divorces.
- Sgt. Harry Bright - A former San Diego Police DepartmentSan Diego Police DepartmentThe San Diego Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for the city of San Diego, California. Established on May 9, 1889, the first chief of police was Joseph Coyne. The current police chief is William Lansdowne.-History:...
sergeant, he joined the newly created Mineral Springs PD to be near his ex-wife, who divorced him to marry a wealthy financier she met while shopping. Although his reputation as both a good street cop and a good supervisor was unchallenged, Harry Bright drank heavily, often "sleeping it off" in Solitaire Canyon near Mineral Springs before being invalided by a strokeStrokeA stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and subsequent heart attack the preceding March. His son Danny, a college student, perished in the crash of PSA Flight 182PSA Flight 182Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182, registration N533PS, was a Boeing 727-214 commercial airliner that collided with a private Cessna 172 over San Diego, California on September 25, 1978. Pacific Southwest Airlines' first accident involving fatalities, the death toll of 144 makes it the...
in 1978, after which he moved to Mineral Springs. - Victor Watson - Wealthy owner of high-tech Watson Industries and married to a famous film and television actress, Watson is 59 but looks ten years older. His son Jack was apparently kidnappedKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
from their home in Palm Springs seventeen months before and found shot to death in the burned wreckage of his father's Rolls RoyceRolls-Royce (car)This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
in Solitaire Canyon.
Secondary characters
- Chief Paco Pedroza - A former LAPD sergeant (for nine years) and Riverside County Sheriff's deputy (fourteen years), Pedroza is 51, fat, married, and laid back, but has both common sense and a strong concept of duty. The original chief of policeChief of policeA Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable...
of Mineral Springs, and often filled with doubts about many of his officers, he supports them (if reluctantly) as long as they remain drug free and aren't thieves. - Officer Oscar Albert Jones - known as "O.A." (and sometimes "Outa Ammo") Jones, the 24-year old former surfer is one of the ten cops (most former misfits) in Mineral Springs. Formerly a cop in Laguna Beach and Palm SpringsPalm SpringsPalm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
, he left both jobs when he "felt it was time to move on" after incidents of questionable circumstances. - Sgt. Coy Brickman - A former San Diego police officer, where he knew Harry Bright, Brickman has cold, unblinking eyes and an ominous demeanor.
- Trish Decker - Harry Bright's ex-wife, remarried to a wealthy man 29 years older than herself, Trish is a middle-aged blonde kept beautiful by cosmetic surgery and personal trainers.
- Harlan Penrod - Victor Watson's gay, 60-year-old houseboy, and sometime surrogate father to Watson's dead son.
- Billy Hightower - A huge African-American, Billy is president of the redneckRedneckRedneck is a historically derogatory slang term used in reference to poor, uneducated white farmers, especially from the southern United States...
Cobras outlaw motorcycle clubOutlaw motorcycle clubAn outlaw motorcycle club is a type of motorcycle club that is part of a subculture with roots in the post-World War II USA, centered on cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals celebrating freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the...
, a full-time crystal methMethamphetamineMethamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
dealer, and a former San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, fired for assaulting his captain. - Beavertail Bigelow - A sixty-year-old "grimy wrinkled desert rat" who wanders in and out of the local cop bar, Bigelow accidentally and literally unearths an important clue in the death of Jack Watson.
Lampoons
Wambaugh's novels are noted for numerous quirky but incidental characters, stereotypical lampoonParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
s of police officer "types" he either observed personally or the subjects of anecdotes related to him by officers. In The Secrets of Harry Bright the officers of the small, fictional Mineral Springs Police Department fill this role. The common thread linking them is their status as misfits elsewhere, and that all were recommended by Sgt. Harry Bright for hiring. Wambaugh expands his lampoons in The Secrets of Harry Bright to include two episodes depicting wealthy retired country clubbers, Archie Rosenkrantz and Fiona Grout, encountered by Blackpool and Stringer on golf courses.