South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Ballard and ‘old man’ Bosch back again
Amid the precise plotting, in-depth character studies and meticulous police procedurals, Michael Connelly’s novels about Harry Bosch are a long arc about the personality, motivations and psychological makeup of this police detective, illustrating his life from his mid-40s to his now senior years. Connelly’s crime novels have shown Bosch as a product of institutions — from his days in foster care, the military to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Each of Connelly’s novels about Bosch shows us a different side of this popular character and his 24th installment, the superb “Desert Star,” continues that trajectory. “Desert Star” finds Bosch aging — by his own admission “an old man” — and in poor health, which he is trying to keep to himself. Bosch refuses to go gently into that good night. Retired from the L.A.P.D. for some years, Bosch has been feeding his mission of investigating crime as a volunteer detective for a small police force.
In “Desert Star,” Bosch is invited by his colleague, Renée Ballard, to be a volunteer detective for the L.A.P.D.’s newly relaunched Open-Unsolved Unit that she heads. At first, Bosch is reluctant but Ballard sweetens the deal with the prospect of giving him the chance to solve a case that has haunted him — finding the man who murdered the entire Gallagher family, including two children, back in 2013. Bosch knows the killer’s identity, but the suspect disappeared before Bosch could arrest him.
But first, Ballard needs Bosch and her team to focus on trying to solve the 1994 murder of 16-year-old Sarah Pearlman, sister of the L.A. city councilman who helped revive the cold case team.
Despite Ballard’s instructions to make Pearlman the priority, Bosch puts his efforts mainly on the Gallagher investigation while also working on the teenager’s case. Ballard needs the unit to solve the Pearlman case, fearing the councilman may pull the funding if they fail.
But the unit also needs to succeed so Ballard can prove to her supervisors — and herself — that she is a leader. Bosch also needs to prove his worth, that he is still up to the task, even with his decades of investigative experience, and that this “old man” still matters.
Bosch always has had an acrimonious relationship with his supervisors, and despite his history with Ballard he still chafes at her leadership and his desire to do things his way. But Ballard and Bosch, in their fifth outing with “Desert Star,” have a “matrix” of mutual respect and trust. Both may know that the other often is right, but that doesn’t stop their irritation or annoyance.
“Desert Star” also is a story about the evolution of police investigations — from the old-school, knocking on doors, talking to people, which is Bosch’s choice. Bosch prefers to “ignite the fire” of a case naturally but, perhaps reluctantly, acknowledges the usefulness of the newest advances in forensics, such as linking genetic genealogy and high-tech advances. Both are effective, and both depend on the skill of the investigator.
Connelly poignantly shows the cold case unit’s new homicide archive where the murder books of the unsolved cases are stored. Bosch and Ballard often run their fingers over these murder books when they are passing, as if connecting with those deceased. This is “hallowed ground to Bosch. The library of lost souls.”
Connelly provides plenty of action scenes in “Desert Star” as the investigation takes the detectives from Los Angeles streets to a Chicago neighborhood and down to Key West.
The title “Desert Star” comes from a flower “undaunted by heat and cold” that Bosch compares to Ballard. But this flower’s penchant for being “relentless and resilient against . . . everything that wants to stop them” applies to them both.
A heart-wrenching ending concludes “Desert Star” — don’t worry, Bosch and Ballard will be back. As ever, Bosch’s “primal scream for justice came from the darkest folds of his heart.”
A love letter to books
“The lawyer,” as he is called in this wily debut from editor and litigator Dwyer Murphy, left his lucrative career at a high-profile New York law firm to make what he calls “An Honest Living,” and have less stress in his own practice. He’s actually looking forward to contract work and reviewing documents; certainly he’s not above doing the occasional odd job, no matter how small.
He squirreled away a good amount of savings but that surplus is dwindling. He’s more than interested when he’s approached by Anna Rennick. She offers him $10,000 in cash, with the promise of a bonus, to find her much older husband, whom she’s divorcing. She believes her soon-to-be ex has been stealing her rare books.
The lawyer finds Anna’s estranged husband fairly quickly and determines the man is stealing. The seasons pass and the lawyer, who doubles as the narrator, is caught up with his circle of poets, book sellers and writers — “old bookmen” who discuss matters of literature as some discuss world politics. Add to that motley crew a few conmen, thieves and at least one entrepreneur who deals in buying and selling stolen goods.
Then the real Anna Rennick shows up, claiming the lawyer has defamed her.
A client who isn’t who they claim to be is an established trope of the private detective genre — think the film “Chinatown” — but Murphy turns this twist into a look at New York City and its literary scene. While the mystery element becomes murky and eventually lost, “An Honest Living” is more a lyrical valentine to New York City and literature. Allusions to works by Joseph Conrad, Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy play heavily in the plot, which is more cerebral than based in solid action.
The lawyer, who mentions his name is similar to author Dwyer Murphy, makes a formidable hero whose intelligence never falters.
Murphy, the editor-inchief of CrimeReads who now lives in Miami, adds to “An Honest Living” the smell and feel of old books as well as a few well-placed crimes, such as conspiracy, which the lawyer says is sometimes “just another word for life carrying on without you.”
MEET THE AUTHOR
Dwyer Murphy (“An Honest Living”) will be among the authors at the Miami Book Fair, miamibookfair.com. Murphy and Jason Rekulak (“Hidden Pictures”) will be in conversation with Gio Gutierrez, curator of The Booze and Books Club, an experiential social group for readers, at 4 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Miami Dade College / Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami, Building 8, Third Floor, Room 8302.