Cagney & Lacey novel

First, I want to thank Matt Winans for providing me a copy of this novelization. I didn't even know such a book existed until I wrote him and found out the book existed and he would provide me with a copy.

The novelization fills in some back-history on both Mary Beth and Christine, then covers the pilot episode.

WARNING: I'M GOING TO SUMMARIZE THE NOVEL. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS THEN GO TO A DIFFERENT PAGE.

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The novel opens with Christine studying photography in Paris. She is taking various photo jobs and has a boyfriend, but he's not as serious about her as she is about him and she catches him in bed with another woman, ending their relationship. Christine then decides to accept an offer from a London magazine to be a photographer.

Mary Beth, meanwhile, has a secretarial job where she is sexually harassed and decides to quit and take the police exam in order to become a police officer.

Back in London, Christine has fallen for the man who is older than her. Again she cares more for him than he for her and he finally tells her that her photos just aren't that good. She leaves, returns to New York City and decides to take the police exam, her father being a policeman himself.

We get an early indication of Mary Beth's prudishness. An affair she is having fails and she meets Harvey.

Christine gets her own condo and gets into the police academy. She gets her first perp, but another policeman is able to take credit for her collar. Cagney's independent nature doesn't go over well even when she starts her police training. On one run her partner has to kill a kid who he thought had a gun, but it turned out to be a stick. He later commits suicide.

Harvey and Mary Beth, meanwhile, get engaged. Harvey doesn't want her to be a cop but eventually gives in. They get married. Mary Beth's police assignments, though, turn out to be stereotypical female assignments such as matron duty, cleaning the place, etc. Then she ends up getting pregnant.

The police go on a short strike and Cagney has to work since she is on probation. Mary Beth has a boy and gets assigned to the same precinct as Christine and they meet and get their first joint collar. Mary Beth's mother dies, and Mary Beth finds she is once again pregnant.

Years pass. Harvey has an accident at work due to an inner-ear infection and can no longer be an active construction worker. Cagney and Lacey end up on a prostitute detail and at this point in the book we are now covering various aired episodes and the pilot movie itself.

The novel is interesting in the background information it presents but I think more could have been done with the backgrounds and a little less space given to releasing various TV episodes. Still, it's a fascinating addition to the Cagney & Lacey world.

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