Publication Day Review: Hollywood Hitman: A Thriller by Michele Domínguez Greene

 

Billed as a “gritty police procedural,” Hollywood Hitman: A Thriller by Michele Domínguez Greene is not at all gritty or much of a police procedural if you have read a lot of police procedurals and crime fiction. This first book in the Cassidy Clarke series, is more a cozy style mystery with a lot of relationship drama than an actual police procedural.

 

As the book opens, Cassidy Clarke is a new boot in the LAPD and about to work her first day. She is looking forward to the fact that she will be assigned a patrol partner and a beat. She lives with her father, Bill Clarke, a legendary homicide detective who is about to go through his last day on the job. After 41 years with the LAPD, and with cognitive issues becoming more apparent to Cassidy and others, he is retiring. Cassidy worries as the job is all her divorced father has and he has no plans for the future to occupy his time.

 

Despite the Fact that it is his last day, Bill and his partner, Pete Barrera, are sent out to a crime scene that appears to be the latest work in a string of killings. This is the third killing in five weeks that appears to be linked to the same killers. Each of the female victims has been strangled, posed afterwards, and left with a small lipstick heart on a cheek.

 

While Bill and his partner go about their work, Watch Commander Steven Kriss puts Cassidy to work with five-year veteran Sean Riley for their first patrol in Hollywood. He has worked with her dad before and she is glad to be paired up with him. But, her time on patrol is short lived as she is soon involved in the serial killers case more than her father ever was. A father who isn’t happy being frozen out of the investigation and decides to work various cold cases all on his own.

 

While the vast majority of the characters are cops, and the police station is the setting for numerous scenes, the actual police procedural aspects of the read are few and far between. This is more of a cozy style mystery read with a lot of personal drama mixed in to the story. Cassidy is dealing with a father who is having serious and worsening cognitive issues, the perception of other officers of her, a childhood friendship forever changed due to a horrific family tragedy, and her own internalized fears regarding all of that as well as her relationship with her boyfriend that leaves a lot to be desired.

 

The result is a read heavy on feelings and relationship dramas. It simply does not have much of what an experienced reader expects to come across in a police procedural.

 

That being said, for what it actually is, the read is a good book. There are numerous interesting characters, conflicts, plenty of drama, and well as several strong mystery elements. If you read Hollywood Hitman: A Thriller by Michele Domínguez Greene for what it is, as opposed to the expectations created by the marketing, you will find an entertainingly good read worth your time.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/47tmDou

 

My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, by way of NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review. The second book in the series, The Lost Angels: A Thriller, currently has a late April 2026 publication date on Amazon.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025