Tag: Michael Connelly

#BookBeginnings Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

Let’s take a look at Michael Connelly’s Dark Sacred Night for Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Book Beginnings is a fun meme hosted by Rose City Reader blog. To participate, share the first sentence or so of a novel you are reading and your thoughts about it. When you are finished, add your URL to the Book Beginnings page linked above. Hope to see you there!

 

book-beginnings-Gershkowitz

Dark Sacred Night* by Michael Connelly

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Summary:  When Detective Renée Ballard, who works the night shift in Hollywood, runs into retired detective Harry Bosch rummaging through department case files she tells him to leave. Curious, she opens the files and discovers he was digging into in an unsolved murder of a teenage runaway.  What she reads about the case hooks her and soon she reluctantly joins Bosch in  the investigation

First Sentence of Dark Sacred Night:

The patrol officers had left the front door open. They thought they were doing her a favor, airing the place out. But that was a violation of crime scheme protocol regarding evidence containment.

Discussion:

Connelly introduced Renée Ballard as a stand alone character in the novel The Late Show last year.  Now he’s teamed her up with the character of his longest running series, Harry Bosch. I have a feeling sparks are going to fly between the two detectives, but not the romantic kind.

My stepfather introduced me to Michael Connelly. His books stand out as police procedurals because he obviously does his research to keep up with the latest crime fighting techniques.

What do you think? Have you ever read a mystery/police procedural by Michael Connelly?

Author Post: Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly started out as a crime reporter in Florida and eventually moved to Los Angeles. Inspired by Raymond Chandler, he began writing mystery novels. He has twenty-one bestselling titles in the Harry Bosch series alone.

I decided to read his novels when my stepfather recommended him. Wow, was he right.

 

 

Michael Connelly novels:

Harry Bosch Series:

Los Angeles Police Detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch is Michael Connelly’s most famous character. (Red = read)

  • The Black Echo (1992)
  • The Black Ice (1993)
  • The Concrete Blonde (1994)
  • The Last Coyote (1995)
  • Trunk Music (1997)
  • Angels Flight (1999)
  • A Darkness More Than Night (2001)
  • City Of Bones (2002)
  • Lost Light (2003)
  • The Narrows (2004) (sequel to The Poet, below)
  • The Closers (2005) – shelf
  • Echo Park (2006) -shelf
  • The Overlook  (2007) -shelf
  • Nine Dragons (2009) (also featuring Mickey Haller)- shelf
  • The Drop (2011)
 – shelf
  • The Black Box (2012) -ordered
  • The Burning Room (2014)
  • The Crossing (2015) (also featuring Mickey Haller)
  • The Wrong Side Of Goodbye (2016) (also featuring Mickey Haller)
  • Two Kinds Of Truth (2017) (also featuring Mickey Haller)
  • Dark Sacred Night (coming October 2018) (also featuring Renée Ballard)

Connelly’s main character also inspired the popular Amazon series Bosch, loosely based on the novels.

Michael Connelly has also written novels featuring other characters:

Jack McEvoy- reporter:

The Poet (1996)

This novel has a great first line:

Death is my beat.

Henry Pierce – chemical scientist and entrepreneur:

Chasing the Dime (2002) -shelf

Mickey Haller -defense attorney:

  • The Lincoln Lawyer (2005)
  • The Brass Verdict (2008) -shelf
  • The Reversal (2010)
  • The Fifth Witness (2011)
  • The Gods of Guilt (2013) – shelf

Renée Ballard – police detective:

The Late Show (2017)

The Late Show*

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

Renée Ballard is a police detective who works the midnight shift, catching new cases but never getting the opportunity to see them through because they are passed on to the day shift. That is until she and her partner are sent to the hospital to check on a badly beaten prostitute and a young waitress who was shot in a bar fight. Renee senses these are important cases and decides to follow the investigations to the end. Can she obtain justice for the victims no one else cares about?

Connelly tends to torture his main characters with workplace problems. In this case, Renée Ballard is working the midnight shift because she had accused her supervisor of sexual harassment and the supervisor demoted her.

I can’t wait to see the sparks fly when Harry Bosch meets Renée Ballard in Dark Sacred Night coming out in October 2018.

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About Author Posts:

Because I read a lot of mysteries, I’ve been trying to come up with a better system to keep track of which novels I’ve finished. I thought blogging would help, which it does, but I don’t always review everything I read. To get more organized, I’ve decided to create a series of author posts with lists of novels and links to my reviews. I plan to edit these pages as needed.

#BookBeginnings The Late Show by Michael Connelly

Let’s check out The Late Show by Michael Connelly for Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Book Beginnings is a fun meme hosted by Rose City Reader blog. To participate, share the first sentence or so of a novel you are reading and your thoughts about it. When you are finished, add your URL to the Book Beginnings page linked above. Hope to see you there!

 

book-beginnings-button-hurwitz

The Late Show*by Michael Connelly

(*Amazon Affiliate link)

I started reading Connelly’s  Harry Bosch mystery series several years ago because of my stepfather’s recommendation and really enjoyed them. This novel introduces a new character, Renée Ballard.

Book Jacket Blurb:  Renée Ballard is a police detective who works the midnight shift, catching new cases but never getting the opportunity to see them through because they are passed on to the day shift. That is until she and her partner are sent to the hospital to check on a badly beaten prostitute and a young waitress who was shot in a bar fight. Renee senses these are important cases and decides to follow the investigations to the end. Can she obtain justice for the victims no one else cares about?

First Sentence of The Late Show:

Ballard and Jenkins rolled up to the house on El Centro shortly before midnight, It was the first call of the shift.

Discussion:

Michael Connelly has written some intriguing first lines for his novels. This one answers who, where, and when in just a few words.

He also tends to torture his main characters with workplace problems. In this case, Renée Ballard is working the midnight shift because she had accused her supervisor of sexual harassment and the supervisor demoted her.

What do you think? Would you keep reading? Are you a fan of Michael Connelly?

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