Steve Hodel

Steve Hodel served four years as a medic in the U.S. Navy, and then joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1963. After six years in uniform patrol, he transferred to Hollywood Division Detectives where he worked all of the "tables:" Burglary, Robbery, Auto-Theft, Juvenile, Crimes against Persons and was then permanently assigned to the Homicide Detail. During his career at Hollywood Homicide, Steve was promoted to Detective II and in 1983 was the senior field homicide detective.

During his years of service he received more than 75 commendations and handled over 300 separate murder investigations and had one of the departments highest "solve rates." Steve was promoted to Detective III (the highest attainable rank in detectives) and retired from LAPD in 1986. Steve’s first book, Black Dahlia Avenger is a New York Times bestseller, a NYT Most Notable Book and was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category.