Sunday, June 29, 2008

20. Trunk Music by Michael Connelly

Trunk Music picture
Grabbed this thick paperback for a loonie at the thrift store near our house. Michael Connolly delivers solid procedurals based on a career as a crime journalist in Los Angeles. He knows his stuff and spends most of the time on the crime and the investigation. This leads to lots of good interaction with a range of mostly dark and corrupted characters (in and out of the force) and excellent locales.

Here, Harry Bosch, the LAPD detective who is effective but generally in trouble with the brass investigates the murder of a succesful B-movie producer. He is found in the trunk of his Rolls with a single bullet hole in the back of his head. The trail is long and windy, passing the wife, his stripper girlfriend, the mob, the FBI and a few others. It's mostly solid and enjoyable. There is a section where Bosch hooks up with a past love that I found a bit forced and thus distracting, especially since her presence was used as a minor red herring. But it's a small part and the rest of the book chugs along. Perfect for a train ride to Toronto.

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