Wambaugh Has Bloody Tale to Tell

He didn’t want to talk about it. Joseph Wambaugh, author-in-our-midst of thrillers such as “The Onion Field” and “The Choirboys,” said it would be unseemly to talk about his new book during a benefit dinner he was enjoying last fall. “It would be horrible table talk,” he warned.

But, pressed, Wambaugh said it was titled “The Blooding,” a true story about genetic fingerprinting. “A geneticist in England has discovered a way to identify an individual from everyone else on the face of the Earth from a specimen of his blood, tissue, saliva or semen.”

On Tuesday, state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp announced his approval of trial use of genetic fingerprinting by California prosecutors.

Wambaugh said his book traces the use of the genetic code technique (which involves extracting DNA from the specimens) in England in 1987 to unravel “a horrendous rape-murder in Leicester that had police stymied. It appeared to be a villager who did it, but they had no clues. So they blood-tested every male, age 13 to 34, in a three-village area.”

Early next month, Wambaugh, who lives on Linda Isle with his wife, Dee, will begin a tour to promote the book. During February, it will be released to “all of the English-speaking world,” he said.

Bus Stop: “ Frightfully posh.” That’s how Jeffrey Lane, an impish flack for Rogers & Cowan in Los Angeles, describes the starry bus ride he’s put together for tonight.

“They’ve probably never even seen a bus before,” he said, chuckling as he recited the names of Jackie Collins, Alan Carr (producer of the 1989 Academy Awards), Angie Dickinson, Nolan Miller and others. The celebs will zip down from the Beverly Hills Hotel on a luxury bus--what else?--to watch Diahann Carroll and Vic Damone sing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Afterward, the troupe and the Damones will rub elbows with about 100 of Amen Wardy’s preferred customers during a supper party in the Cabrillo Room of the Four Seasons hotel.

On the menu: salmon and spinach in puff pastry with saffron flower sauce, veal medallions, and chocolate symphony--a trio of confections topped with to-die sauce (you know the kind). Piper Sonoma brut champagne will be poured upon guests’ arrival. During dinner, Chardonnay by St. Clement and Pinot Noir by Robert Stemmler will be served.

How do these things come together? “I just happened to be on the phone with Amen,” Lane said. “Talking to him about clothes.” (Wardy operates a frightfully posh boutique in Newport Center/Fashion Island. Carroll is a satisfied customer. Lane does her publicity.) “And I told him about the gang coming down to watch the show.

“He told me he would love to see them all. So, he decided to toss a party!” ( Tres L.A.)

About 25 of the singers’ fans will climb aboard the bus, which will be cleared of extra seats to make room for a “bar and a bar man,” Lane said. “We’ll drink Dom Perignon and eat caviar all the way!”

Now that’s leaving the driving to us.

What they’re talking about: Colors. Clothing colors. With Nancy Reagan-red and Barbara Bush-blue, can Raisa Gorbachev-green be far behind?

What is the motive behind signature-color wearers? Psychotherapist Taylor Hartman has an idea. Author of “The Color Code,” a book that discusses the motives of personality types and groups them into red, blue, yellow and white, he believes Reagan likes red because she is not as secure as the new First Lady.

Actually, both Reagan and Bush are blue-type personalities, Hartman said, “personalities motivated by intimacy.”

“But, because Nancy isn’t as secure, she takes a red approach to life.” Reds are motivated by power (and yellows by fun, and whites by peace). “And Nancy is a more power-oriented, directive type than Barbara Bush,” Hartman said.

Bush may enjoy wearing the color blue because “she seeks intimacy beyond her husband--with her family, children, friends. She is comfortable with herself--so comfortable she doesn’t need that brave, red style to feel secure.”