If you’ve read only a few of Don Winslow’s books, you may not realize what a shape-shifter he is. His bravura Cartel trilogy, with its 40-year wingspan and brutally detailed knowledge of Mexican drug gangs, isn’t much like his darkly hilarious “Savages,” which itself barely shows how deeply his early books were rooted in California’s surf culture. All they share is indelible bite.

“Whatever happened to morality?” Winslow had a character in “Savages” ask. The reply: “Replaced by a newer, faster, easier technology.”

Winslow has now delivered a collection of six novellas that show off his range. It’s called “Broken,” after the first (and weakest) story in the bunch. A better title might have come from the next one, “Crime 101” — an elegantly choreographed pas de deux that is dedicated to “Mr. Steve McQueen,” and that lives up to that level of cool. It certainly captures Winslow’s stature as a writer from whom others can learn the ropes.

The piece takes its title both from the Pacific Coast Highway (U.S. Route 101) and from the idea of an introductory academic course, in keeping with the maxims that Winslow studs throughout. (“There’s a word for a man who believes in coincidence,” reads one: “the defendant.”) The characters include a debonair jewel thief who cruises the highway in lovingly described American cars, and Detective Lou Lubesnick, who will clearly be a Winslow keeper.