Official Privilege is the third novel by former destroyer skipper, destroyer squadron commander and Navy Captain PT Deutermann. This book does a Genre Shift from naval thrillers involving ships on deployment, to military themed crime fiction. The body of a black Lieutenant junior grade Wesley Hardin is found in a mothballed ship at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and Navy Commander Dan Collins, a surface warfare officer serving a staff tour at the Pentagon in the politico military plans and policy directorate, is detached to conduct an investigation. Assigned to assist him is NCIS lawyer, Grace Snow, who has no field investigation experience. Turns out, the dead man's sister Elizabeth was also found dead in Washington some time earlier, so the Navy needs to ensure that there is no foul play.
Dan and Grace uncover a nexus between a cabal of Executive Assistants - senior officers ostensibly riding desks at the Pentagon, but acting as behind the scenes "fixers", cleaning up various messes their Admiral "principals" create, a former Army MP acting as a "security consultant" and a mafia gang. They also determine that both Hardin siblings were murdered, with the sister, Elizabeth even being pregnant. This leads them to suspect a forbidden affair between Elizabeth Hardin and an unknown admiral - but the EA cabal may have decided to eliminate them, before they learn too much.
Tropes found in this work:
- Bald of Authority: Police captain Moses Vam.
- The Captain: All Executive Assistants are O-6 captains in the navy.
- Commanding Coolness: Dan Collins has the rank (O-5 Commander). but he doesn't have his own command yet.
- Crippling Castration: Malachi Ward suffered this during his MP tour in Vietnam - courtesy of a Vietnamese hooker.
- Desk Jockey: Both Commander Dan Collins and NCIS lawyer Grace Snow are these. Dan is serving a staff rotation till a ship command billet opens up for him. The Executive Assistant network is an entire cabal of desk jockeys who take care of problems for admirals.
- Domestic Abuse: Grace reveals that her ex-husband became this, when the late eighties recession hit.
- Eunuchs Are Evil: Malachi Ward. He may have lost his testicles, but not his cold blooded viciousness.
- Groin Attack: When the "fixer" Malachi Ward attacks Grace, she attempts to knee him in the groin. Problem is, he was castrated by a prostitute in Vietnam, so it doesn't work. Malachi kicks Grace in her genitals (she is naked) and it hurts her.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Grace tries to fight off Malachi ward, completely naked.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Lt Elizabeth Hardin got pregnant off her affair with a high ranking admiral. Since this would have lead to big trouble for that admiral, he had the Executive Assistant network "off" her.
- The Lost Lenore: Dan lost his wife to a complicated pregnancy years ago.
- Malcolm Xerox: Lt (jg) Wesley Hardin had a reputation for being one.
- Misblamed: Elizabeth Hardin’s diary mentioned her affair with an admiral whom she referred to only as “W T”. Dan suspects that the “W T” is Chief of Naval Operations William Torrance and his suspicions seem to be confirmed when Admiral Torrance’s EA Captain Randall starts running some serious interference to scuttle Dan’s investigation and his career. Ultimately, Dan was half right - Admiral Torrance was innocent, but Captain Randall was involved in orchestrating the murders of both Hardins to cover for a different admiral named Walker T Keeler.
- Number Two: Dan Collins had previously served as a destroyer Executive Officer, which resulted in his promotion and is currently on a staff rotation awaiting a ship command to become available for him.
- Serious Business: DC Police Captain Vam smirks at the idea of an admiral being charged with “
conduct unbecoming an officer”. Dan explains that this charge is a lot more serious than it sounds and can carry prison time as well as revocation of all veteran’s benefits, which retired military depend on far more than junior discharges do.
