His later books included The Glitter Dome (a TV-movie adaptation that starred James Garner and John Lithgow), The Delta Star, and Lines and Shadows. He mixed writing novels ( The Blue Knight, The Choirboys, The Black Marble) with nonfiction accounts of crime and detection (true crime): The Onion Field. Soon turning to writing full time, Wambaugh was prolific and popular starting in the 1970s. He later quipped that suspects would ask for his autograph.

Wambaugh's perspective on police work led to his first novel, The New Centurions, which was published early in 1971 to critical acclaim and popular success, while Wambaugh was still a detective. He also attended Cal State Los Angeles, where he earned BA and MA degrees. He served for 14 years, rising from patrolman to detective sergeant.

Wambaugh received an associate of arts degree from Chaffey College and joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1960. Marine Corps at age 17 and married at 18. The son of a police officer, Wambaugh was born in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been nominated for four Edgar Awards (winning three), and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. Several of his early novels were set in Los Angeles and its surroundings and featured Los Angeles police officers as protagonists. (born January 22, 1937), is a best-selling American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States.

The Golden Orange by Joseph Wambaugh