Conflict in Blue

It wasn''t long after the Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, Joseph Wambaugh, wrote his first fiction novel, The New Centurions, that he quit the police force after only fourteen years on the job. The former LAPD detective sergeant went on to write more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, many of which became best sellers, and more than a few of those books made it onto the big screen and television. For new author David E. Gray, who spent forty-two years in law...
More Description

It wasn''t long after the Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, Joseph Wambaugh, wrote his first fiction novel, The New Centurions, that he quit the police force after only fourteen years on the job. The former LAPD detective sergeant went on to write more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, many of which became best sellers, and more than a few of those books made it onto the big screen and television. For new author David E. Gray, who spent forty-two years in law enforcement before becoming a writer, he is still waiting for his big break. Gray began his police career in 1967 and spent twenty-eight years as a Los Angeles police officer, twenty-five and a half as a motorcycle officer. In those twenty-eight years, he had seen it all. From the mini riots in 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated to the Vietnam protests, the Manson murder clan, the 1969 Black Panther shoot-out, the SLA shoot-out, the Hillside Strangler task force, the LA Riots, two major earthquakes, and a handful of fires and floods, Gray was a street cop during all these events. At the age of fifty, Gray left the LAPD and was hired by the Escondido Police Department in North San Diego County. He spent fourteen more years there, much of that time as a street cop. So what made Gray decide to write a book? As he tells it, it was just before he retired from the Escondido Police Department when he read a couple of books written by retired LAPD motor cops whom he knew. The books were all about their life stories while riding motors for the LAPD. Both of those officers retired with around twenty years of service. Gray had a total of forty-two years with the two police agencies, double what they had. Gray thought about all the things he had done at the two agencies and was sure he could do better job writing about his stories at both agencies. After Gray retired in late 2008, he sat down and began writing his first book, The Warrior in Me. It took him almost a year, but when he was finished, he had twenty-four chapters, and he set out to find a publisher. It turned out that thousands of people write books and submit them for publishing on a regular basis. Gray realized that since he wasn''t a well-known figure or celebrity, he was going to have to self-publish his book himself using his own money. With limited funds, Gray was able to publish his book, but he just didn''t have enough money to market his book beyond the publisher''s package that he paid for. Even so, Gray''s first book was a labor of love. For him, even if it didn''t get the exposure it deserved, he had left his legacy for his two grown boys, his grandchildren, along with a few of his friends and extended family members. It should be noted that his wife, Suzanne, has been at his side from the very beginning of his law enforcement career. Now that Gray wrote his first fiction book, he decided to write his first nonfiction book, True to the Blue. This book is based in part on a true story and follows the hardships of a Los Angeles police officer who is unjustly fired from the force for protecting the identity of an East LA gang member turned confidential informer. The story has suspense, murder, and mayhem along with a little romance and humor. Gray again used his own money to publish True to the Blue in hopes that the right person will find it and read it, and maybe then it will get the exposure it needs. Until then, Gray continues to write about what he knows best, stories involving street cops. His third book that has recently been published is titled Eclipse of the Blue: For Greater Glory. It''s about a group of twelve retired LA cops, eight men and four women, who decide to pull off the perfect crime to regain some of the glory they used to enjoy before they were put out to pasture. Their real motive is to show the younger breed of cops that the old dogs still have what it takes to outsmart them at their own game and not get caught. Now with three books under his belt, Gray decided to write his fourth book titled Conflict in Blue: The Marissa Ortega Story. This book continues where the book True to the Blue left off. It follows the life of Sergio Ortega''s daughter, Marissa Ortega, who is now a Los Angeles police officer assigned to the Northeast Division of Operation Central Bureau. When Marissa Ortega and her partner are involved in a violent vehicle pursuit and shoot-out with a carload of Avenues Street Gang members, who all end up getting killed, the Mexican Mafia orders a hit on Marissa and her partner. The person who is ordered to carry out the hit is none other than Jorge Mendoza, the Avenues Street Gang member who was now out of prison after serving twenty-eight years for the murder of Marissa''s uncle back before she was born. It turns out killing a cop is not as easy as it looks when the wrong people are killed, including some of the Avenues Street Gang members themselves. Detective Bryce Stevens, who is investigating one of the gang murders, teams up with Marissa Ortega, and together they trick an Avenues Street Gang member into becoming an unwilling confidential informant to help them find Jorge Mendoza and bring him to justice.