In Michael Connelly’s “Desert Star,” Renee Ballard has revived the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit thanks to her benefactor on the city council, Jake Pearlman, and calls Harry Bosch out of retirement to work cold cases alongside a team of volunteers.  Bosch left the department acrimoniously, but the chance to use the LAPD’s resources to work his … Continue reading Review: Desert Star by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly's police procedurals have always viewed law enforcement with skepticism. They have never assumed the justice system functions efficiently. Harry Bosch was always portrayed as an outsider in an insider's job, dedicated to his mission more than he was to the Los Angeles Police Department; he was in the department, but not of it. Renée … Continue reading Review: The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly

In "The Law of Innocence," as reports of a deadly virus in China with possible global implications begin to gather steam, Los Angeles defence attorney Mickey Haller takes on the most important case of his career: his own. After an open-bar celebration of a not-guilty verdict at the Redwood on Second Street, Haller — a … Continue reading Review: The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly

Veteran journalist Jack McEvoy — hero of The Poet and The Scarecrow — has burned all his bridges and been relegated to reporting on consumer issues for a nonprofit investigative news organisation called Fair Warning. It's good, honest work in a world where traditional newsrooms have been hollowed out and replaced by click-bait websites, and … Continue reading Review: Fair Warning by Michael Connelly

On the eve of the publication of the third Jack McEvoy novel Fair Warning — amid my re-read of every book Michael Connelly has published — I went back to where it all started for the intrepid newspaperman: 1996's The Poet. The book holds up. In fact, it's even better than I remember. Mysteries about … Continue reading Review: The Poet by Michael Connelly

I have read all 32 — now 33 with The Night Fire — of Michael Connelly's crime novels at least twice, and I'm almost certain I've read each instalment in the Harry Bosch series on three or four separate occasions. These books are nestled in my bookcase, spines proudly creased, pages yellowed; worn, and loved, … Continue reading Review: The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

An excellent police procedural in its own right, and a definitive novel in the Harry Bosch series. This is crime writing at its very best. Dark Sacred Night and the last handful of Michael Connelly's novels —  Two Kinds of Truth, The Late Show, and The Wrong Side of Goodbye — were clearly influenced by … Continue reading Review: Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

The thing about Michael Connelly's Bosch series is that they are phenomenally re-readable. First time round you'll be turning the pages desperately trying to identity the killer. Second time round, you're able to savour Bosch's world a little more - bask in mid-nineties Los Angeles, its beauty and its underlying tensions - and marvel at his ability … Continue reading Review: Trunk Music by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly’s 1992 debut – the first Harry Bosch novel in a series that has now spanned 18 installments (including this year’s The Crossing – was an Edgar Award-winner for best first novel. Deservedly, too. The Black Echo is an unabashed police procedural, but is anything but pedestrian, sparked to life by Bosch’s doggedness and … Continue reading Review: The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

BLOOD WORK is one of Michael Connelly’s best. Terry McCaleb is an ex-FBI profiler and recent recipient of a new heart. He is still recovering from the major surgery when the sister of the donor reveals she was killed in a convenience store hold-up. Her murder remains unsolved – the police have exhausted all their … Continue reading Review: Blood Work by Michael Connelly