Connelly, Michael 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born July 21, 1956, in Philadelphia, PA; married; children: one daughter. Education: Graduated from University of Florida, Gainesville, 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Home—FL. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked as a newspaper reporter in Florida and for the Los Angeles Times; full-time novelist.

MEMBER:

Mystery Writers of America (president, 2003—).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pulitzer Prize finalist for feature writing (with two other reporters), 1986, for an article in the Sun-Sentinel about a major airline crash and its survivors; Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel, Mystery Writers of America, 1993, for The Black Echo; Anthony Award for best novel, 1997, for The Poet, 1999, for Blood Work, and 2003, for City of Bones; Macavity Award for best novel, 1999, for Blood Work, and 2003, for City of Bones; Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for best novel, 1999, for Blood Work, 2003, for City of Bones, and 2006, for The Lincoln Lawyer; Shamus Award, 2006, for The Lincoln Lawyer; Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), and Premio Bancarella Award (Italy).

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

The Black Echo, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1992.

The Black Ice, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1993.

The Concrete Blonde, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1994.

The Last Coyote, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1995.

The Poet, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1996.

Trunk Music, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1997.

Blood Work, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1998.

Angels Flight, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 1999.

Void Moon, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2000.

A Darkness More Than Night, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2001.

City of Bones, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2002.

Chasing the Dime, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2002.

Lost Light, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2003.

The Narrows, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004.

The Closers, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2005.

The Lincoln Lawyer, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2005.

Echo Park, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006.

The Overlook, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

(Editor and author of introduction) The International Association of Crime Writers Presents Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation, Forge (New York, NY), 2005.

Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers (nonfiction) Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006.

Creator, writer, and consulting producer of television series Level 9, UPN, 2000. Producer of limited-edition jazz CD, Dark Sacred Night, The Music of Harry Bosch, released in conjunction with Lost Light, 2003. Appeared on limited-edition DVD, Blue Neon Night, Michael Connelly's Los Angeles, released in conjunction with The Narrows, 2004.

ADAPTATIONS:

A sound recording of Blood Work, read by Dick Hill, was issued by Brilliance Corp., 1998; Blood Work was adapted for a film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, released by Warner Bros., 2002. An audio recording of Crime Beat, read by Len Cariou, Nancy McKeon, and Carl Franklin, with an introduction by the author, was issued by Time Warner AudioBooks in 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

"Sheeesh! This guy can write a thriller!" remarked novelist Lucian Truscott IV, reviewing Michael Connelly's novel The Poet for the Los Angeles Times Book Review. Numerous critics have been expressing essentially the same approval ever since Connelly's first novel, The Black Echo, came out in 1992.

"Mysteries may be a popular genre, but some writers transcend the boundaries of the form. Connelly is one of them," remarked Colette Bancroft in a profile of the author for the St. Petersburg Times. Connelly has won praise for his compelling plots, which often deal with contemporary social issues; for his writing style, sometimes described as lyrical; his three-dimensional protagonists and well-drawn supporting characters; and for his evocation of the city of Los Angeles, the setting of most of his novels and almost a character in them.

The Black Echo, which won the Edgar Award as the best first mystery novel of the year, marked the initial appearance of Connelly's signature detective-hero, Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch of the Los Angeles Police Department. Bosch, whom Connelly named for the fifteenth-century artist whose paintings depict a hellish world, is a gloomy man who was raised as an orphan after having been born to a prostitute. He is haunted by his memories of Vietnam. He is also an honest and tenacious cop. Faced with the apparently drug-related death of an old Marine buddy, Bosch investigates with the help of F.B.I. agent Eleanor Wish, and he becomes involved in a complicated plot that several reviewers praised for its convolutions and its sociological and psychological details. Marilyn Stasio, writing in the New York Times Book Review, commended The Black Echo as "one of those books you read with your knuckles—just hanging on until it's over." A Publishers Weekly reviewer found that Connelly had transcended "the standard L.A. police procedural with this original and eminently authentic first novel."

Many novelists would have been hard-pressed to follow up such success, but Connelly met the challenge with The Black Ice. The "ice" is a new drug, a mixture of heroin, crack, and PCP, and one of Bosch's fellow officers has apparently been involved with it to the point of suicide. Connelly again received compliments from critics. The novel is "strong and sure," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor, adding: "This novel establishes him as a writer with a superior talent for storytelling." In Booklist, Wes Lukowsky called The Black Ice a "powerful novel in a series that seems destined for wide popularity" and advised readers: "Plan ahead before you read this buzz saw of a novel. Don't start unless you have the next day off." In the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Charles Champlin praised "Connelly's command of police workings and his knowledge of the turf from L.A. south and across the border." The Black Ice, he believed, was "a terrific yarn, extending the boundaries of the police procedural in the ingenuity of the plot and the creation of a character."

When The Concrete Blonde was issued in 1994, Champlin remarked: "Connelly joins the top rank of a new generation of crime writers." This novel places Bosch on trial for having killed a suspected serial killer when the suspect was reaching for a toupee rather than for the presumed pistol. Bosch feels the man he killed was really the serial killer, but the female district attorney goes after him, seeing police brutality in the case. While Bosch is on trial, new murder victims crop up, bearing the modus operandi of the psychopath Bosch supposedly put out of action. "The new one is a police procedural of crackling authenticity," wrote Champlin. "But it is also a courtroom drama worthy of any of those from the current crop of lawyer-novelists. And finally it is a cunningly conceived mystery in which, in the Agatha Christie tradition, a series of quite convincing suspects are set up and cast aside before the ultimate perpetrator is revealed." Tribune Books reviewer Gary Dretzka called The Concrete Blonde "extremely satisfying." Stasio, praising Connelly as keeping "a tight grip" on his material, remarked that "Bosch deserves the Kafka medal for holding on to his sanity while stumbling from one nightmare to the other."

In Connelly's 1995 novel, The Last Coyote, Bosch investigates the 1961 death of his mother. Bosch is the titular creature—he sees himself as a wild animal, and in his cliffside, earthquake-damaged house, he has recently had a traumatic confrontation with a real coyote. His search for his mother's killer, a quest Bosch has time to pursue while suspended from the department for pushing a superior through a window, leads him into the upper reaches of local politics. Some critics noted that Connelly had set up and met a challenge. In Booklist, Lukowsky found the novel's plot and setting to represent "heady territory for a cop novel, but Edgar winner Connelly handles it with style and grace." Stasio commented that Bosch's creator "has the tough, taut writing style to see him through his perilous and lonely search for justice."

In The Poet, Connelly temporarily parted company with Bosch. This novel's protagonist is crime reporter Jack McEvoy, whose twin brother, a homicide detective, has apparently committed suicide. The brother, however, is in fact the victim of a fiendishly clever serial killer who has dispatched a half-dozen other homicide detectives in various states, and who leaves clues, in the form of quotations from Edgar Allan Poe, at each death site. McEvoy pursues the case for personal and professional reasons, and he worms his way into the F.B.I.'s investigation. "The F.B.I. bureaucracy is rendered with an expert eye," commented Los Angeles Times Book Review contributor Truscott. Among the suspects is a serial killer named Gladden who, according to Truscott, "makes Hannibal Lecter look like a child-care worker," but who is not the killer of the cops. Several critics found the novel to be a worthy effort. Dick Adler, writing in Tribune Books, welcomed the change of pace from Bosch, further commenting: "Each quote from Poe left by the killer cuts to the bone, revealing the true psychosis of the poet and the killer." Stasio, despite finding peripheral aspects of the plot implausible (the romantic subplot, and the ease with which McEvoy joins the investigation), remarked: "The villain's flamboyant character may be unbelievable, but his methods of killing and eluding detection are infernally ingenious, adding an intellectual charge to the visceral kick of the hunt." Truscott said that "talent like this is rare and delicious" and added: "This guy writes commercial fiction so well, he's going to end up on the ‘literature’ shelves along with Poe if he plays his cards right."

Connelly's 1997 Trunk Music was "his best yet," remarked a Publishers Weekly contributor. It marked a return to Bosch and his Los Angeles turf, after the redoubtable detective's "involuntary stress leave." The plot begins when the body of a would-be Hollywood player is found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce with two bullets in his head then winds through Las Vegas mob connections, F.B.I. and L.A.P.D. machinations, and Hollywood deal making before winding up on a Hawaiian beach. The obvious overtones of mob executions and money laundering provided the spark for something more complicated and original; the novelist, said Thomas Gaughan in Booklist, "has taken traditional motifs from crime, cop, private-eye, mystery, and noir novels and created a terrific read." Gaughan called Trunk Music "one of the year's best entertainments." Stasio also used the word "terrific" to describe the book. Library Journal reviewer Rex E. Klett applauded the presence of "clear, crisp prose, intricate plotting, and ever-increasing suspense in yet another masterful procedural."

With Blood Work Connelly again temporarily parts ways with Bosch; this story centers on retired F.B.I. agent Terrell "Terry" McCaleb, who had specialized in tracking down Los Angeles-area serial killers. Suffering from cardiac problems, McCaleb has endured an agonizing two-year wait before finally receiving a heart transplant. McCaleb is under doctor's orders to avoid stress, particularly the anxiety-laden investigations that precipitated his heart problems. He is puttering around on his houseboat in San Pedro's harbor, preparing for a trip to his boyhood home on Catalina Island, when his life is thrown into turmoil. The attractive Graciella Rivers steps aboard his boat and asks him to investigate the murder of her sister, Gloria, which the L.A.P.D. has placed in back-burner status as a convenience-store robbery gone wrong. McCaleb gives her a flat "no" response, until she drops her bombshell—Gloria was the heart donor who saved McCaleb's life. Against medical advice, sans license, and with little help from the police, McCaleb studies the evidence and determines there is a second murder linked to Gloria's. Moreover, he learns there were "souvenirs" taken from both victims, a surprise tip-off that he is on the trail of a serial killer. In ensuing twists, McCaleb is nearly indicted as the murderer, and an intimate connection between hunter and hunted is revealed.

Booklist contributor Gaughan found Blood Work "solid entertainment but not up to Connelly's last two novels: The Poet (1996) and the superb Trunk Music (1997)," and stated: "Frankly, many readers will see the shattering truth coming a long time before the sleuth does." A Publishers Weekly critic praised Blood Work as "a tautly paced, seductively involving thriller…. Working with seemingly shopworn material, Connelly produces fresh twists and turns, and, as usual, packs his plot with believable, logical surprises." Rebecca House Stankowski in the Library Journal stated: "High suspense, masterful plotting, and smart prose make this a superior thriller." Pam Lambert in People lauded Connelly for "the sharp eye of the Los Angeles reporter he used to be and the power of the ever-more stylish writer he is becoming with each outing."

With Angels Flight, Connelly returns the action to Bosch and his L.A.P.D. partners, Jerry Edgar and Kizmin "Kiz" Rider, a female African American officer. This time they are embroiled in a murder investigation that could set the city, still healing from riots set off by the acquittal of police accused in Rodney King's beating, ablaze in its wake—the slaying of a controversial, high-profile black lawyer named Howard Elias, who has built his reputation and fortune suing L.A.P.D. officers for racially motivated police brutality. Elias is shot in downtown L.A., on the eve of his biggest case yet, while taking a short train ride up a steep hill called Angels Flight. The logical suspect could be any one of thousands of L.A. police officers, with particular motivation for one of them. In addition to the complications of the case, personal stress builds for Bosch as his year-old marriage begins to dissolve while his wife, Eleanor Wish, returns to her former gambling habit and he tries to quit smoking. The case takes twist upon twist as Harry finds himself deep in racial tension, politics, and police corruption—he uncovers signs of evidence tampering by the first police officers to arrive at the crime scene, his ex-partner has apparent links to the crime, the civilian attorney who serves as inspector general is discovered to have been Elias's lover, and then the investigation's focus veers to a celebrated child-murder case, tied to wealthy and powerful Internet pedophiles. The denouement sees Harry stepping far beyond the rules and following the moral code of a reckless crusader when he uncovers the truth that motivated the killing.

Some reviewers voiced reservations about this work. Thomas Gaughan, writing in Booklist, faulted Angels Flight as "Connelly at less than his best" and feared "Bosch fans may feel that the author works too hard to create the tightest rat hole yet." A Publishers Weekly contributor thought that "the finale, set against riots, delivers a brutal, anti-establishment sort of justice. This isn't Connelly's best … Bosch seems to be evolving from the true character of early books into a sort of icon, a Dirty Harry for our times." Rebecca House Stankowski, writing in the Library Journal, however, lauded the book as "another gripping police procedural" and found that Angels Flight "explores the underbelly of the human soul with the usual tight prose and swirling plot twists that Connelly's legions of fans have come to expect."

In Void Moon, the protagonist is crack burglar and excon Cassie Black, who has sustained herself though her six-year prison stretch with dreams of one last big score. When she was a child, Cassie's father abandoned her family for the Las Vegas casinos. Max, Cassie's lover, died plunging from a casino penthouse through a glass ceiling while they were attempting to rob a rich high roller. Due to a twist of Nevada law, she found herself charged with manslaughter in Max's deadly accident. Now free and trying to go straight while dealing with her tormented past, she eventually succumbs to the temptation of trying to get payback for Max's death by robbing another high roller at the casino where Max died. But her intended victim turns out to be a bagman for the Chicago mob who was carrying the 2.5-million-dollar down payment for the Cleopatra Casino, and Cassie finds herself hunted by Jack Karsh, a highly skilled and techno-savvy private eye working for the casino. Cassie has a secret she will do anything to protect, while the brutal, psychopathic Karsh leaves no witnesses alive. A stolen child is instrumental in their showdown, which results in an unexpected and unabashed tear-jerker of an ending.

Void Moon found favor with numerous reviewers. A New York Times Book Review critic observed that "Connelly makes shrewd work of the manhunt, cranking up the suspense to keep Cassie a whisker ahead of her pursuer." Library Journal contributor Jeff Ayer remarked: "Connelly has written his best book to date … [a] fastpaced thriller…. In astrology, a void moon is considered bad luck, but Connelly's Void Moon is better than a four-leaf clover." Thomas Gaughan and Gilbert Taylor, writing in Booklist, deemed Cassie to be "a wonderfully engaging character" and Jack Karsh a "chilling sicko," while "Casino boss Victor Grimaldi is spectacularly reptilian" and the "lesser characters are finely drawn, too." Regarding the details of casinos' security systems and "Cassie's criminal tradecraft," they noted, "Connelly really does his homework." The critics' final assessment was highly laudatory: "The pacing of this thriller is as good as you'll find in the genre. Void Moon offers readers a full house of entertainment."

Chasing the Dime, published in 2002, is another non-Bosch novel. Its main character, computer scientist Henry Pierce, finds that his new phone number used to belong to a prostitute, Lilly, who marketed her services on the Internet. She has disappeared, and Henry suspects she was murdered. He becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her, motivated in part by guilt over having been unable to prevent the death of his drug-addict sister. Some reviewers praised Connelly's new protagonist and his exploration of an underworld gone high-tech. "Technology has not, we learn, made that world any less gentle, or any easier to get out of alive," related Jesse Sublett in the Austin Chronicle. Cindy Lynn Speer, writing for Mostly Fiction, considered Henry and the never-seen Lilly both "strong and interesting" characters and commented that "Connelly takes an entirely innovative idea and runs with it, creating a story that is hard to put down." Washington Post contributor Patrick Anderson, however, an admirer of many of Connelly's novels, deemed Chasing the Dime "surely his weakest." The book, Anderson continued, "has some nice moments. But at best it's slick entertainment, and at worst it's silly." Anderson longed for Connelly to return to Harry Bosch, which he did the following year with Lost Light.

Lost Light has Bosch retired from the Los Angeles police, having left at the end of City of Bones. He is unable to leave detective work altogether, though, and he decides to investigate the four-year-old murder of a young woman. He discovers the case may relate to a robbery and have implications for national security. In the process he encounters old police colleagues and his ex-wife, Eleanor, now a professional gambler. He also finds he has a daughter. This is the first Bosch book that Connelly wrote in the first person, a move welcomed by some critics. "It's a nice touch that helps us get an even better understanding of this complex man," commented David Montgomery in January. According to Joe Hartlaub, a contributor to Bookreporter.com: "The shift in viewpoint—and in occupation—has the effect of reminding the reader of Raymond Chandler and thus Philip Marlowe." The author's deft handling of these shifts, Harlaub wrote, shows "the depth of Connelly's talent." The novel, added Mostly Fiction reviewer Chuck Barksdale, "is another quality effort" from the author.

Connelly pulls together plot lines from several of his novels in The Narrows. The story, written in both first- and third-person point of view, focuses on Bosch, now a private investigator who becomes involved with characters from The Poet and Blood Work. Bill Ott, reviewing the novel for Booklist, summarized it by saying: "Expertly juggling the narrative … Connelly builds tension exponentially through superb use of dramatic irony." He concluded that the story has "a stunning finale" and that "this is Connelly at the top of his game."

In The Closers, Bosch returns to the L.A.P.D. Assigned to investigate cold cases, Bosch and his partner start looking for information that might help them solve a kidnapping and murder that took place seventeen years ago. The victim was a mixed-race teenage girl. Newly uncovered DNA evidence points them toward several leads, including a white supremacist, so the novel examines racial issues as well as crime-solving, with Bosch wondering if racial bias on the part of police interfered with the original investigation. Some critics thought Connelly did an excellent job of handling this mix of topics—and more. "Racism and a police conspiracy are strong enough themes to carry ‘The Closers,’ but Connelly goes a step further to explore ‘the ripples’ of the teen's murder," such as its effect on her parents and friends, related Oline H. Cogdill in the Sun-Sentinel. Jeff Ayers wrote in the Library Journal that Connelly's "compelling style makes even the most mundane details fascinating," while Connie Ogle, reviewing the novel for the Miami Herald, dubbed it to be "essentially a clinic on how to keep a series compelling." Connelly, Ogle added, "possesses a natural talent for cultivating characters over the long course of time and never seems to run low on ideas." A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that the book's "premise could be a formula for a routine outing, but not with Connelly," and noted that the author "comes as close as anyone to being today's Dostoyevsky of crime literature."

The Lincoln Lawyer, another departure from Bosch, is Connelly's first legal thriller. The titular character is Michael Haller, a Los Angeles defense attorney (and Bosch's half-brother) who works from the back seat of his chauffeured Lincoln Town Car. His current client is a wealthy real estate broker, accused of raping and nearly killing a prostitute; he at first appears innocent, but he has some secrets. Some critics found Haller appealing and his story exciting. The novel, according to San Francisco Chronicle reviewer David Lazarus, has "sharply drawn, engaging characters, snappy dialogue and a plot that moves like a shot of Red Bull." Added Seattle Times contributor Adam Woog: "It's Connelly at the top of his game."

In 2006 Bosch appeared in Echo Park, which places him on a case involving a woman who vanished in 1993 and was possibly murdered, although her body has never been found. The district attorney's office appears overly eager to close the case for political reasons, and Bosch believes early mishandling of the investigation allowed a serial killer to escape. While some reviewers were glad to see another Bosch book, Boston Globe contributor Sam Allis thought this entry showed "the lack of growth of Bosch as a character." A far different opinion came from Washington Post Book World critic Kevin Allman, who commented: "Connelly's chronicles of Bosch—like the detective himself—are aging like a fine Scotch." Kate Ayers, writing for Bookreporter.com, found that the novel "shows Connelly in his best form," and Harriet Klausner, in the online publication Casa Mysterioso, pronounced it a "superior police procedural, one of the best of the year."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Africa News Service, November 28, 2005, review of The Lincoln Lawyer.

Austin Chronicle, October 18, 2002, Jesse Sublett, review of Chasing the Dime.

Booklist, April 1, 1993, Wes Lukowsky, review of The Black Ice, p. 1413; June 1, 1995, Wes Lukowsky, review of The Last Coyote, p. 1733; October 1, 1996, Thomas Gaughan, review of Trunk Music, p. 290; January 1, 1998, Thomas Gaughan, review of Blood Work, p. 742, Bill Ott, review of The Poet, p. 783; October 15, 1998, Thomas Gaughan, review of Angels Flight, p. 371; October 1, 1999, Thomas Gaughan and Gilbert Taylor, review of Void Moon, p. 308; May 1, 2004, Bill Ott, review of The Narrows, p. 1502; February 15, 2005, Mary Frances Wilkins, review of The International Association of Crime Writers Presents Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation, p. 1065; September 1, 2005, Allison Block, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 6; April 1, 2006, Connie Fletcher, review of Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, p. 4; August 1, 2006, Bill Ott, review of Echo Park, p. 6; April 1, 2007, Bill Ott, review of The Overlook, p. 5.

Bookseller, October 14, 2005, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 10; February 10, 2006, "Witnessing Hell: Michael Connelly, Creator of Detective Harry Bosch, Tells about His First Encounter with Murder—at the Age of 16," p. 21; June 8, 2007, review of The Overlook, p. 12; June 22, 2007, review of The Overlook, p. 13.

Boston Globe, November 16, 2006, Sam Allis, "Bosch Is Back, But Sleuth's Best Days May Be Behind Him," p. B19.

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, October 13, 2005, Bruce DeSilva, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 2.

Daily Variety, January 5, 2007, "Michael Connelly," p. 12.

Entertainment Weekly, February 4, 2000, Charles Winecoff, review of Void Moon, p. 66; May 20, 2005, Jennifer Reese, review of The Closers, p. 81; September 30, 2005, Thom Geier, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 97; May 12, 2006, Clark Collis, review of Crime Beat, p. 85; May 25, 2007, Karen Valby, review of The Overlook, p. 87.

Federal Lawyer, June, 2007, Arthur L. Rizer, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 59.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2005, review of New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation, p. 199; August 1, 2005, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 803; June 1, 2006, review of Echo Park, p. 533; April 15, 2007, review of The Overlook.

Library Journal, October 1, 1996, Rex E. Klett, review of Trunk Music, p. 130; March 15, 1998, Rebecca House Stankowski, review of Blood Work, p. 91; July, 1998, Joanna M. Burkhardt, review of Blood Work, p. 152; November 15, 1998, Rebecca House Stankowski, review of Angels Flight, p. 95; March 15, 1999, Michael Adams, review of Angels Flight, p. 128; October 15, 1999, Jeff Ayers, review of Void Moon, p. 104; April 15, 2005, Jeff Ayers, review of The Closers, p. 71; October 1, 2005, Jeff Ayers, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 64; October 1, 2005, "Michael Connelly," p. 66; April 15, 2006, Deirdre Root, review of Crime Beat, p. 91; October 15, 2006, Elizabeth B. Lindsay, review of Echo Park, p. 57.

Los Angeles Times, October 18, 2006, August Brown, "Inside Investigation: In the New ‘Echo Park,’ Michael Connelly Probes Harry Bosch's Mind and Takes Another Look at a Part of L.A.," p. E3.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 12, 1993, Charles Champlin, review of The Black Ice, p. 8; February 18, 1996, Lucian Truscott, IV, review of The Poet, p. 4.

Miami Herald, May 18, 2005, Connie Ogle, "‘The Closers’: The Former L.A.P.D. Cop Is Back on the Force, and He's Learned a Thing or Two"; May 24, 2006, "Michael Connelly's Crime Reporting Doesn't Match up to His Formidable Power with Fiction."

Newsweek, April 13, 1998, Malcolm Jones, Jr., review of Blood Work, p. 77; February 1, 1999, Katrine Ames, review of Angels Flight, p. 66.

New York Times, May 16, 2005, Janet Maslin, "Taking Care of Business That's Never Finished," p. E6; October 16, 2006, Janet Maslin, "Imagine If This Guy Really Existed," p. E1.

New York Times Book Review, January 19, 1992, Marilyn Stasio, review of The Black Echo, p. 20; January 9, 2000, Marilyn Stasio, review of Void Moon, p. 24; May 7, 2006, Charles Taylor, "Death on Deadline," p. 31; November 5, 2006, Marilyn Stasio, review of Echo Park, p. 25.

People, March 9, 1998, Pam Lambert, review of Blood Work, p. 39; February 1, 1999, Pam Lambert, review of Angels Flight, p. 41.

Publishers Weekly, May 24, 1993, p. 83; March 22, 1993, p. 68; October 21, 1996, p. 73; February 2, 1998, review of Blood Work, p. 80; November 2, 1998, review of Angels Flight, p. 73; April 12, 2004, review of The Narrows, p. 38; April 4, 2005, review of The Closers, p. 40; September 5, 2005, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 36; March 13, 2006, review of Crime Beat, p. 54; September 4, 2006, review of Echo Park, p. 41; April 2, 2007, review of The Overlook, p. 40.

St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, FL), October 9, 2005, Jean Heller, "Connelly Detour Worth Taking," p. P6; October 25, 2007, Colette Bancroft, "A Life of Crime Writing," p. E1.

San Francisco Chronicle, October 2, 2005, David Lazarus, "Lawyer Defends a Man He Knows Is Guilty as Sin," p. F6.

San Jose Mercury News, November 1, 2006, "‘Echo Park’: A Cop's Obsession to Find Killer."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 5, 2007, Jeff Ayers, "Connelly Finds Writing Short Is Not So Sweet," p. C1.

Seattle Times, October 5, 2005, Adam Woog, "A Backseat Attorney in a Top-notch Mystery," p. F1.

Sun-Sentinel, May 18, 2005, Oline H. Cogdill, "‘The Closers’: Veteran Cop Back, Taking on Old Cases"; May 31, 2006, Oline H. Cogdill, "The Genesis of a Top Crime Writer"; October 4, 2006, Oline H. Cogdill, review of Echo Park.

Swiss News, January, 2006, review of The Closers, p. 60.

Times Union, February 18, 2007, "‘Echo’ Thriller Rings True.'

Trial, May, 2006, Carmel Sileo, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 80.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), August 7, 1994, Gary Dretzka, review of The Concrete Blonde p. 7; January 7, 1996, Dick Adler, review of The Poet, p. 6; July 2, 2006, Dick Adler, review of Crime Beat, p. 8; October 22, 2006, Dick Adler, review of Echo Park, p. 10; June 2, 2007, Kristin Kloberdanz, review of The Overlook, p. 9.

USA Today, October 4, 2005, Deirdre Donahue, "‘Lincoln’ Navigates Crime Curves at Breakneck Speed," p. D6.

Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2006, Tom Nolan, "Connelly's Hieronymous Bosch Moonlights—in Other Authors' Books," p. D8.

Washington Lawyer, January, 2006, Ronald Goldfarb, review of The Lincoln Lawyer, p. 40.

Washington Post, October 28, 2002, Patrick Anderson, "Alas, No Bosch about It," p. C2.

Washington Post Book World, November 19, 2006, Kevin Allman, "Fatal Distraction," p. 6.

Weekly Standard, December 12, 2005, Jon L. Breen, review of The Lincoln Lawyer.

Writer's Digest, December, 2005, "Criminal Mastermind," p. 42.

ONLINE

Best Reviews,http://thebestreviews.com/ (March 20, 2002), Harriet Klausner, review of City of Bones; (March 4, 2003), Harriet Klausner, review of Lost Light; (September 15, 2005), Harriet Klausner, review of The Lincoln Lawyer.

Blog Critics,http://blogcritics.org/ (May 21, 2007), Scott Butki, interview with Michael Connelly.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (January 6, 2008), Joe Hartlaub, review of Lost Light; Kate Ayers, review of Echo Park.

BookReview.com,http://www.bookreview.com/ (January 6, 2008), Harriet Klausner, review of A Darkness More Than Night; Harriet Klausner, review of Chasing the Dime.

Book Standard,http://www.thebookstandard.com/ (October 3, 2005), Anna Weinberg, "Anatomy of a Buzz: Michael Connelly's ‘Lincoln Lawyer.’"

Casa Mysterioso,http://www.casamysterioso.com/ (October 15, 2006), Harriet Klausner, review of Echo Park.

Columbus Dispatch Web site,http://www.dispatch.com/ (August 27, 2006), Karen Angel, "Novelist Probes Dark Side through Detective, Lawyer."

Consumer Help Web,http://book.consumerhelpweb.com/ (January 6, 2008), Bridgette Redman, interview with Michael Connelly.

Court TV News,http://www.courttv.com/ (May 3, 2006), "A Conversation with Writer Michael Connelly."

Curled up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (January 6, 2008), Luan Gaines, review of Lost Light; Bobby Blades, review of The Lincoln Lawyer; Bobby Blades, review of The Overlook; Luan Gaines, review of The Overlook; Bobby Blades, review of Crime Beat.

Entertainment World,http://www.entertainmentworld.us/ (January 6, 2008), Walter Reichert, "10 Questions with Michael Connelly."

Futures Mystery Anthology,http://www.fmam.biz/ (May, 2007), Harriet Klausner, review of The Overlook.

Gainesville.com,http://www.gainesville.com/ (January 26, 2007), Gary Kirkland, "Connelly's Path to Success Started at the Reitz Union"; (May 20, 2007), Gary Kirkland, "Author Michael Connelly Challenges Himself by Shaking Things Up."

January,http://www.januarymagazine.com/ (April, 2003), David Montgomery, "Act of Devotion."

MBR Bookwatch,http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ (May, 2005), Harriet Klausner, review of The Closers.

Michael Connelly Home Page,http://www.michaelconnelly.com (January 6, 2008).

Mostly Fiction,http://mostlyfiction.com/ (September 9, 2002), Cindy Lynn Speer, review of Chasing the Dime; (March 31, 2005), Chuck Barksdale, review of Lost Light.

Rap Sheet,http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/ (July 11, 2007), Ali Karim, "Not One to Be Overlooked."

Romantic Times Web site,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (January 6, 2008), Diane Snyder, review of Lost Light; Liz French, review of Echo Park.

TIRBD (Things I'd Rather Be Doing),http://www.tirbd.com/ (May 21, 2007), interview with Michael Connelly.