I Am Not A Cop

I recently finished I Am Not A Cop by Richard Belzer and Michael Black. I am sure you have heard of him before. If you are as old as me you remember him as a stand-up comic, if you are younger you would know him from TV. I was intrigued that he had written a book, so I had to give it a try.

From an interview on NPR, Belzer says he has fictionalized his life for this story. His friend, Russian Rudy Markovich, is a medical examiner who consults on the show. They have dinner and Belz can tell there is something on his mind, but Rudy blows it off. They part and as Belzer passes by an alley he sees Rudy being beaten by two thugs speaking Ukrainian. Belz comes to his rescue and the guys run away. Rudy says it was a mugging, Belzer knows better, but lets it go. Rudy goes missing and Belzer gets caught up in trying to find him. As he does, a tabloid journalist is getting under his skin and causing some bad publicity. In an effort to keep him in check, Belzer is assigned a "personal assistant" to keep him out of trouble. Kali is drawn into the case and the two of them cross paths with a very dangerous Russian mafia in an effort to find out what happened to Rudy.

This was such a fun read. Belzer keeps us guessing as to what is going on, who's involved and is Rudy still alive. With a "reality" feel, I found myself wondering if Belzer really knows martial arts, is he as much as a gentleman as he writes in the book and is he really that much of a smart ass. He was such a lovable character and I loved Kali his assistant. I truly hope he has more books coming because I will certainly buy them up!

I give this a 5 out of 5.