Shane Scully is a fictional character who has appeared in eleven detective stories by novelist and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

Stephen J. Cannell Stephen Joseph Cannell (; February 5, 1941 – September 30, 2010) was an American television producer, writer, novelist, actor, and founder of Cannell Entertainment (formerly Stephen J. Cannell Productions) and The Cannell Studios. After start ...

List of novels

# '' The Tin Collectors'' (

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

) # '' The Viking Funeral'' (

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

) # '' Hollywood Tough'' (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

) # '' Vertical Coffin'' (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

) # '' Cold Hit'' (

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

) # '' White Sister'' (

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

) # '' Three Shirt Deal'' (

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

) # '' On the Grind'' (

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

) # '' The Pallbearers'' (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

) # '' The Prostitutes' Ball'' (

) # '' Vigilante'' (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

) The first three novels were written in the third person, while the latter eight were written from Shane's first person perspective.

Background

Shane Scully is a fictional Detective III in the

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

. Similar to Cannell's style when he was working as a television writer, Scully's background is very much a part of how he acts and why he acts the way he does. He grew up in an orphanage. In his early years on the force, he had few friends and tried to operate as sort of a

loner A loner is a person described as not seeking out, actively avoiding, or failing to maintain interpersonal relationships. There are many potential causes for this solitude. Intentional causes include introversion, mysticism, spirituality, reli ...

type. As the novels have progressed, he has opened himself up to others. In ''Cold Hit'', Scully mentions that he might now be opened up too much. Since his first appearance, Scully has slowly gained a family. He fell in love with Alexa, who is the chief of detectives for the LAPD. The 2 characters have been married since the end of the 2nd novel in the series. Alexa and Scully live with Chooch Scully, who is Shane Scully's son from a one time fling with a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

. Starting with ''Vertical Coffin'', Chooch's girlfriend Delfina also lives with the Scully Family. Finally there is the Scully's cat Franco, whom Shane Scully got from a prostitute whose murder he solved in ''Hollywood Tough''.

Personality

Shane Scully is a tough, hard-nosed cop who often bends the rules in order to get things done. He has an extremely open mind that allows him to "think outside the box" when needed. Examples include ''Hollywood Tough'', where he convinced the LAPD to finance a major

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

in order to solve the murder of a prostitute. In '' Cold Hit'', he convinced the LAPD to challenge the authority of the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

in order to solve a series of unsolved serial murders. In general, Scully respects other officers of the LAPD, but tends to look down on the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, Homeland Security or other agencies who try to squash the authority of the LAPD. Scully tends to dislike the media (comparing them to

maggot A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, hoverflies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and cr ...

s in ''Cold Hit'') as well as most

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

as he sees them as interfering with his work.

References

Fictional American detectives Fictional characters from Los Angeles Fictional Los Angeles Police Department officers Fictional Los Angeles Police Department detectives {{novel-char-stub