The life of a New York City police officer, with the NYPD running through his veins: a highly anticipated nonfiction epic — destined to be a classic.

Blue Blood is a bona fide literary masterpiece, an important book about what it means to protect, to serve, and to defend among the ranks of New York's finest. Conlon's canvas is great and complicated — he is the product of generations involved in law enforcement, good cops and bad — and the story he tells is impossibly rich: it presents an anecdotal history of New York through its police force, and paints a vivid portrait of the teeming street life of the city in all its horror and splendor. It is a story about fathers and sons, partners who become brothers, old ghosts and undying legacies. Here you will see terms like loyalty, commitment, and honor come alive, in action, on a daily basis. With brio and a thrilling literary style, Conlon depicts his life on the force — from his first days walking a beat in the South Bronx to his ascent to detective. The pace is relentless, the stories hypnotic, the scope nothing less than grand.

Edward Conlon is a son of the Bronx, who still lives and works there. His father was a police officer who left the NYPD to join the FBI. His uncle was a lifelong officer of the NYPD. His great grandfather was a crooked cop — a dandy who "carried the bag on Atlantic Avenue" — during the Tammany Hall era. Blue Blood brings together a gifted writer with a subject he owns: Conlon captures the exquisite detail, the hilarious exchange of dialogue, the tragic and the marvelous, experienced firsthand, day after day. He has the Irish gift of storytelling, an old-school delivery, a killer sense of irony, and a sentimental heart.

Conlon's father envisioned bigger things for his son, the Harvard graduate; but to Conlon, there is no greater job in the world. He answered the call. In the end, you know why he's a cop, why anyone becomes a cop. Without question, Blue Blood will be one of the most talked about and celebrated books of the year.

"This gripping account of his life in the NYPD by a Harvard-educated detective will evoke deserved comparisons to other true crime classics, like David Simon's Homicide and Kurt Eichenwald's The Informant. The son of an FBI agent, Conlon began his career patrolling housing projects in the Bronx before moving on to narcotics work and eventually getting his gold shield. He seamlessly weaves in family stories, autobiography and a history of corruption and reform in the legendary police force, but the heart of the book is his compelling and detailed rendering of the daily grind of the average policeman, a refreshing antidote to car chases and running gun fights that are a staple of popular culture's depiction. There are dozens of fascinating supporting characters on both sides of the law, including pitiful addicts and career criminals hoping to become informants, devoted public servants, good bosses and petty bureaucrats. The narrative spans the violent early 1990s, touches on the controversial Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo cases, and features an evocative account of the grim recovery at the Fresh Kills landfill, sifting through remains of the twin towers, where circling birds provided clues to human remains. Even those with a more cynical view of the realities of police work will be impressed by the warts-and-all portrait Conlon provides, and his gifts as a writer will doubtless attract a wide audience. Agent, Owen Laster at the William Morris Agency. (Apr. 12) Forecast: Conlon is already established as the author of the 'Cop Diary' pieces in the New Yorker, written under the pseudonym Marcus Laffey. A six-city author tour should help launch this one onto many bestseller lists." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[M]ay be the best account ever written of life behind the badge....The amazing thing about Blue Blood is that where a lesser writer would just have gone numb, Conlon stays alive to the humor and the sadness and the ironies of life..." Lev Grossman, Time

"Blue Blood...may be the most candid and bestwritten true account ever of the joys and frustrations, sorrows and rewards of a cop's life....Conlon is a terrific writer..." Tom Nolan, The San Francisco Chronicle

"A street-smart and hilarious memoir from Conlon....Conlon's prose, buffed to a high sheen, mixes the rich and rowdy dialogue of police and 'perps' with department lore....Crackling sharp — and utterly compelling." Kirkus Reviews

"[S]prawling, wry, opinionated, beautifully written....Blue Blood, in terms of its ambition, its authenticity and the power of its writing, is in a class by itself." Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review

"Conlon is a wonderful writer, street smart and poetic, arresting you with his deft turn of phrase....Readers are lucky Conlon gives them a pass into his world." Connie Fletcher, Booklist (Starred Review)

"[S]plendid....[A]n engrossing tale....[A] book that resonates with the shattering ring of truth....Considering its roots in raw fact...the book reads surprisingly like a novel. (Grade: A)" Ed McBain, Entertainment Weekly

"[W]ell-written....However, the book has some weaknesses. It is too long, and Conlon slips into police-speak too often....Yet, when Conlon returns to the central narrative of his story...he is at his best as a writer." Del Quentin Wilber, The Baltimore Sun

"These 500-plus pages sometimes run heavy with abbreviation, jargon and elliptical references; and Conlon is far more open with his head than his heart. Still, he admits us into a fascinating and frightening world that is never far from our own doorstep." Edward Morris, BookPage

"Det. Ed Conlon sets the bar for the true crime procedural and the cop memoir genres impossibly, unreachably high..." Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential

"Blue Blood is the most stunning memoir ever written about the cop world....You will never forget this superb book." Joseph Wambaugh, author of The Onion Field

"Growing up...my father admonished his kids to respect the police. This superb book reminds us why." Ken Auletta, author of Backstory: Inside the Business of News

The excitement began from the moment of its acquisition in the fall of 1998, when major news organizations, including the New York Times, reported the sale of a book by the NYPD officer who wrote the "Cop's Diary" in The New Yorker, under the pseudonym Marcus Laffey. Now delivered, Blue Blood is a bona fide literary masterpiece, an important book about what it means to protect, to serve, and to defend among the ranks of New York's finest. Conlon's canvas is great and complicated — he is the product of generations involved in law enforcement, good cops and bad — and the story he tells is impossibly rich: it presents an anecdotal history of New York through its police force, and paints a vivid portrait of the teeming street life of the city in all its horror and splendor.

With brio and a thrilling literary style, Conlon depicts his life on the force — from his first days walking a beat in the South Bronx to his ascent to detective. The pace is relentless, the stories hypnotic, the scope nothing less than grand.

Edward Conlon is a detective with the NYPD. A graduate of Harvard, he has published columns in The New Yorker under the byline Marcus Laffey.