USA TODAY International Edition
Connelly mixes it up with female lead
Author also says Titus Welliver ( his pick!) is ‘ perfect’ as Bosch
Michael Connelly writes the bestselling L. A.- based Harry Bosch detective novels, the inspiration for the Amazon series Bosch, starring Titus Welliver. Connelly’s latest novel, The Late Show ( Little, Brown), features a fierce, smart new heroine, LAPD detective Renée Ballard, who is banished to the night shift after she files a sexual harassment charge against a male supervisor. Connelly chatted with USA TODAY’s Jocelyn McClurg and took fan questions during a # Bookmark This author chat on Facebook. Here are highlights:
Q Why did you decide to write about a woman detective?
A I knew this was going to be my 30th novel. I thought, “Let’s do something different.” It had been 11 years since I had gone out with a new lead protagonist ( in The Lincoln Lawyer). So for a long time, I’ve been thinking of doing something new creatively.
Q What challenges do women cops face?
A Police departments are a male- dominated society and women get a lot of pushback. I’ve known many female detectives who have had their share of it. … It’s part of the job, and part of ( Renée’s) skill set is to deal with it.
Q 2016’ s The Wrong Side of Goodbye, was your first book to hit No. 1 on USA TODAY’s Best- Selling Books list. What is that like, even after 30 books?
A It’s a marker; it’s a way of measuring whether your characters and stories are resonating. It’s a big deal. The first Bosch book came out in 1992, so for 25 years I’ve been writing about this character and exploring him. So when you hit something like that 24 years in, it’s something to feel quite good about and celebrate. It means, like Sally Field said, you really like him! It’s great. The longevity of that character, to me, is staggering. It’s amazing that he’s lasted not only in readers’ imaginations but my own for 25 years.
Q Were you involved in choosing Titus Welliver to play Harry Bosch?
AI was. It’s funny. I’m not Mr. Hollywood, I’m a book writer. But when Amazon wanted to make that show, they said, “We’re going to do things a little different, and we want you there, you created this character…” I had watched a TV show called Touch, which has come and gone. Titus Welliver was on it as a guest star, and he was playing a military vet who had PTSD. The way he carried that internal damage and projected it was just perfect. I thought, “That’s what I need in Harry Bosch, someone who can show that inner damage without saying, ‘ Man, I’ve had a hard life.’ ”
Q A fan asks: The Harry in the Amazon series seems more hard- edged than the easygoing Harry in the books. Do you agree?
A I’m not sure I do. I think the Harry in the books, his hard edges are a little bit sanded down because of time. The guy in the books is about 15 years ahead of the guy on the show. You could say the guy in the show hasn’t learned everything the guy in the books has. And I think part of what Bosch has learned is that it’s not a black- and- white world. You can’t be hard- edged; it’s a gray world. That’s a lesson that probably takes more years to learn.