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The Badge of Honor novel series is a series of novels written by W.E.B. Griffin about the Philadelphia Police Department. Although the books were originally set in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the characters have only aged a few years (Matt Payne is still only 27), Book VIII, Final Justice, moves the story to the post-9/11 era.
Matthew Payne, also known by the nicknames "Matt" or "Matty," is the central figure of the series. He is the son of Officer John X. Moffitt, who was killed in the line of duty. His mother, Patricia Moffitt, took a job as a legal secretary to make a living, and met Brewster C. Payne, a prominent Philadelphia attorney and widower. They fell in love and remarried. Brewster Payne legally adopted Matt.
Matt went to private school, where he was an average student with some clashes with the police, and then to the University of Pennsylvania, where he attended Marine Corps ROTC. A minor medical condition prevented Matt from obtaining a commission in the Corps. About the same time, Matt's uncle, "Dutch" Moffitt, was killed. Matt decided to join the Philadelphia Police Department.
Immediately after graduating from the Philadelphia Police Academy, Payne was assigned to Special Operations as Peter Wohl's assistant. This was done to keep him out of trouble; higher-ups in the department figured that Payne would come to his senses and leave the Department in time. Instead, Payne became a hero when he shot and killed a serial killer/rapist, whom Payne found by accident, and who was attempting to run him over. His shooting saved a woman who had been inside the van.
After receiving a high score on the detective exam, Payne was then assigned to the East Division's detective squad and worked routine operations such as retrieving stolen cars. He was reassigned to the Special Investigations section of Special Operations by order of Mayor Carlucci. In The Witness, Payne ended up shooting and being shot by one of a gang of armed robbers, again, not intentionally: Wohl had sent him to escort Mickey O'Hara and to keep O'Hara safe and out of the line of any fire).
Payne's stay in Special Operations was troublesome at times. Wohl reprimanded him for climbing on the 12th floor ledge of the Bellvue-Stratford Hotel to replace a surveillance microphone that had been knocked loose. He has also at times been referred to, sarcastically, as "Sherlock Holmes, Jr." Wohl suspended Payne when he was assigned to Harrisburg and ended up romantically involved with a woman who was providing cover for terrorists/bank robbers; again, he was overruled by Carlucci.
In Final Justice, Payne has become a Detective Sergeant. He solves a murder/rape case in Northwest Philadelphia (but not before breaking the heart of the female detective who becomes his main partner and assistant). He also chaperones a Philadelphia-born movie actor during the latter's return to the city and escorts home an escaped murderer from France. At the end of the book, he suffers burnout and thinks of quitting.
Payne is not married. He was in love with Penny Detweiler, but she died of a heroin overdose.
Payne’s character is suggested to be based on Ken Krieger. Krieger initially went to Delaware County Police Academy, before working in Philadelphia. Krieger worked in a variety of undercover roles and the law enforcement training community. Like Matt Payne, Krieger had been involved in a number of shootings. The Wyatt Earp of the Main Line was his academy's top shot in 1988.
Washington did not want to be transferred from Homicide to Special Operations because, as a Homicide detective, he earned considerable overtime pay. However, Inspector Wohl convinced him that he would be able to work as many hours as he wanted. In Final Justice, he is transferred back to Homicide as a lieutenant. Washington’s wife Martha is ironically named similarly to the wife of America's first president. She is said to be a reputable art dealer, and is forever dragging her husband to events in the art world.
Jerry Carlucci is the former Police Commissioner and Mayor of Philadelphia. He is clearly modeled on Frank Rizzo. Like Rizzo, Carlucci served 26 years as a police officer and held "every rank but policewoman." Despite being mayor and having a police commissioner under him, Carlucci insists on hands-on direction of the Police Department. In Final Justice, Carlucci is succeeded by African American Alvin Martin, who seems to be based on John F. Street. In an apparent disconnect, in The Traffickers, which begins approximately 30 days after the end of Final Justice, Mayor Carlucci is in full control, and remains so through the end of the series.
Paulo Cassandro is the underboss of the Philadelphia Mafia. He is the owner of Classic Livery, which provides limousines to the public; he also serves as enforcer to Vincenzo Savarese, along with his brother, Pietro.
Vincenzo Savarese is the head of Philadelphia's Mafia family. Although he has refined manners and is an accomplished violinist, Savarese is capable of ordering, albeit indirectly, a person's death. Savarese has a daughter who is married to a builder and is not involved in crime, and a granddaughter on whom he dotes. When his granddaughter was raped by a rogue Narcotics cop, Savarese prevailed on Brewster Payne to have his daughter, Dr. Amy Payne, take care of her. He also arranged for the man who sold her drugs to be kidnapped and left to starve to death in the dark.
Amy Payne is Matt Payne's older sister. She has a double doctorate, in pure mathematics and in medicine, and works as a psychiatrist. Among her patients have been Penelope Detweiler and (reluctantly) the granddaughter of Vincenzo Savarese. She has also assisted the Special Operations Division in profiling the Northwest Serial Rapist and an insane but intelligent man trying to kill the Vice President. Amy Payne is prone to being distracted as a driver, makes snap psychological judgments of her brother, and is annoyed when she runs into the bureaucracy of the Philadelphia Police Department. She is romantically involved with Peter Wohl.
Penelope Detweiler was the only daughter of Richard Detweiler, the majority stockholder in Nesfoods. She was involved with Anthony DeZego, "Tony the Zee," a minor Philadelphia mobster, and was present when DeZego was murdered in The Victim. Her relationship with DeZego led to her addiction to heroin. She was hospitalized in a private sanitarium in Nevada. When she returned to Philadelphia, Detweiler had a brief relationship with Matt Payne. She died of a heroin overdose in The Murderers.
Michael J. "Mickey" O'Hara is a former police reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin. He is regarded as one of the best police reporters on the East Coast, and he is held in high regard by the police for several reasons, including listening to their side of controversial events. O'Hara drives a car equipped with several police band receivers (at the time the series was written, computer-controlled scanners were not available). In this, he resembles Larry Krebs, the former police reporter for WMAL in Washington, D.C. Although O'Hara is held in high esteem by the police, he has published stories that the police wanted played down, such as the arrest of a crooked police captain. He has also been on the site and taken photos when significant events took place, such as when Matt Payne shot and killed the Northwest Serial Rapist (in Special Operations). In The Vigilantes, O'Hara had left the Bulletin and had signed on to run a local crime information website known as 'CrimeFreePhilly.com'.
Martha Peebles, in her late thirties, was the heir to a fortune based on anthracite coal mining. Her father disinherited her brother, Stephen, for being a homosexual. Stephen stayed with Martha, but was forced to move out after several cases of pilferage. Martha asked for police assistance to protect her home. Captain Dave Pekach was sent to respond for public relations reasons. The two fell in love and Pekach moved in with Martha; they later married. Martha doted on Pekach, and one of his biggest problems is preventing her from buying things for her "Precious."
