Can anyone recommend a really thorough contemporary police procedural/crime novel?

[WhatHo]

With all the twiddly bits like how many forms they fill out and call terms and whatnot?

But interesting and readable too.

Washing police time is good. Was converted from the blog of a met policeman. All my police chums tell me it's accurate which is a little depressing!

Wasting!not washing

thank you

JustWhen - I had a look and that's exactly what I'm looking for - thanks again

I always thought the Frost books were excellent. You got a real sense of all the different things he had to do in the context of all the admin too. Much better than the TV adaptations (though David Jason is very much how I envisaged Frost).

Have you tried the Jessica Daniel books - recommend if not

Fab thank you. Question, possibly stupid: PCs don't investigate murders, do they? That's detectives, right? Is it actually separate?

I seem to know more about US policing than UK thanks to TV

I recommend Pierre LeMaitre's books about his detective Camille Verhoeven (Irene and then Alex). Both absolutely amazing.

I like Brian McGilloway's Lucy Black police procedurals - Little Girl Lost and then Hurt.

WhatHo All police officers are constables. They all start out in uniform as PCs. Once they've completed their 2 year probation they might get the chance to specialise as investigators (detectives) - or in traffic or firearms or any number of other departments.
Although detectives do the majority of investigations for a murder, other people will have a heavy involvement too, such as CSIs, Intelligence Officers, Community Officers etc.
The investigation will be run by a Senior Investigating Officer (SIO), who is normally of the rank of at least Detective Inspector.
The SIO is the character that crime fiction / drama tends to focus on, so the Frost character for example. But in real life the SIO isn't 'out there' investigating, they're usually to be found in the office, planning investigatory strategy and keeping track of budgets and things - not nearly as exciting as on TV.
Sorry for the essay, but hope this helps

Elizabeth Haynes works (worked?) for the police - I really liked Human Remains as an investigation as well as a damn good read. Claire Mackintosh's debut is supposed to be good and she used to be a police officer but I haven't read it yet and I don't know how much detail she goes into. Jane Casey is excellent on procedural stuff - she's married to a barrister and she writes about a female police detective in the Met.

I hate inaccurate crime novels! It really pulls me out of the story if I spot a US term used in a UK novel (parole officer instead of probation officer is a regular offender).

Although they're properly in the urban fantasy genre, Ben Aaronovich's Rivers of London series are absolutely accurate on the policing side of the stories.

This is all brilliant, thank you so much. Will definitely check them all out.

igivein, really useful. . So a PC would be called to a murder, then call in various teams, and the detecting would be given to a detective under the control of an SIO.

Erm, do they work in pairs or is that another Americanism I've picked up?

What's an intelligence officer?

You get a uniform PC responding to anything and everything. In the case of a murder they'd confirm that there was a body, secure the scene, get details of any witnesses and call in CID (detectives).
Detectives don't normally go around in pairs. There would be a team of detectives working on a murder. They'd each be given 'actions' (lines of enquiry) to complete and feed back in to the enquiry.
An intelligence officer keeps track of information generally, and can move the investigation forward by providing information that might be useful - who the deceased was, who their friends were, did they have a criminal record - all sorts of stuff.

I love the Rivers of London series! Also the inspector McClean mysteries by James Oswald. Although they may lack the realism your after

Rivers of London fan here too.

Thanks again. Will def check out Rivers of London for pure entertainment - googled it and it sounds right up my street (loved True Blood).

Peter Robinson's DCI Banks are my absolute favourite.

Read them in order Gallows View is the first.