After spending six months riding with the detectives in Prince George’s County’s homicide unit, journalist Del Quentin Wilber wasn’t sure how to distill the experience into a book. But he then realized that the month of February 2013 was especially brutal, in terms of violence and the resulting 48-hour workdays. A Good Month For Murder: The Story of a Homicide Squad (Henry Holt, $30) captures what Wilber witnessed in that time frame, which he will discuss at the National Press Club on Tuesday, June 21 at 6:30 p.m.
Twelve people were murdered in Prince George’s County that month, and Wilber acknowledges the horror and pain of the crime scenes. But in order to answer important questions about what it takes to be a good cop, Wilber’s hones in on the detective team and their strategies.
The quirky personalities on the 25-person squad are part of the story. However, the detectives all have one thing in common: They fought their way to their current positions by being the cream of the crop. As Wilber describes, they have dark senses of humor and hard edges from working with the “worst ten percent of humanity,” but he soon realizes those were just side effects of being good at their jobs.
The squad works to solve various homicides — like a young man carrying only a bus ticket; an elderly woman; and an honors student killed in her own bed — and Wilber chronicles the call-outs, the door-to-door questionings, and interrogations in the “box” at the police station. He provides insights into the dynamics between the detectives and community that make the work both difficult and rewarding.
The author has remarked that his writing was inspired by David Simon of the Baltimore Sun, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and The Wire fame. His storytelling style is similarly blunt, nonjudgmental, and no-holds-barred. His narration is that of a fly on the wall and not an interacting observer, which makes for an accurate assessment but not one that pushes for more answers. Wilber did ask detectives plenty of “annoying” questions along the way, he says, which will perhaps be addressed at the Tuesday’s event.
Wilber is an award-winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where he covers the justice department. He was previously a crime and police reporter for the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post; at the latter, he also covered aviation. A Good Month for Murder is his second book, following Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan (2012). Wilber lives in Bethesda, Md.
The event includes an author discussion, Q&A session, and book signing. Tickets can be purchased online and are $5 for Press Club members and $10 for non-members. Books can also be purchased online or on-site, and no outside books are permitted.
