The best part of having been around for a while is all the people you run across. Most are chasing a dream, and some actually catch it. Consider Michael Connelly, the cops reporter they said couldn't write.

In 1993, Connelly was on his way out and I was on my way in at the Los Angeles Times. I was replacing him on the cops beat in the San Fernando Valley. Like Florida, the Valley is fertile territory for what used to be known in the newspaper business as "dirtball stories" - love triangle murders, contract killings, mad capers and stupid criminal tricks.
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