New book release: ‘Desert Star’ by Michael Connelly

Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch return in ‘Desert Star,’ Michael Connelly’s new suspense thriller. Photo: Amazon

Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of over thirty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, “The Black Echo,” won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, “Blood Work.” In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, “The Lincoln Lawyer,” hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. Michael is the executive producer of Bosch, an Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime. In his new book “Desert Star,” a Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch novel, they team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family. (Amazon, 2022)

“Desert Star” –  year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force but after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her own ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show” to rebuild and lead the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division. For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him—the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come volunteer as an investigator in her new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale” with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

First priority for Ballard is to clear the unsolved rape and murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. The decades-old case is essential to the councilman who supported re-forming the unit, and who could shutter it again—the victim was his sister. When Ballard gets a “cold hit” connecting the killing to a similar crime, proving that a serial predator has been at work in the city for years, the political pressure has never been higher. To keep momentum going, she has to pull Bosch off his own investigation, the case that is the consummation of his lifelong mission. The two must put aside old resentments and new tensions to run to ground not one but two dangerous killers who have operated with brash impunity.

Excerpt available. 

The Lincoln Lawyer television series on Netflix

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo stars in The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. Photo: Netflix

Michael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. J. Michael “Mickey” Haller, Junior first appeared in the novel “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Haller, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney, is the paternal half-brother of Connelly’s best-known character, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. A film adaptation of “The Lincoln Lawyer” was released in 2011 with Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller and now a new series is coming out on Netflix on May 13. (Michael Connelly, 2022)

The Lincoln Lawyer series explores the character’s Latino heritage and will be streaming on Netflix on May 13, 2022. It stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Mickey Haller, Neve Campbell as Maggie McPherson, Becki Newton as Lorna, Jazz Raycole as Izzy (Mickey’s driver), Angus Sampson as Cisco, and Christopher Gorham as Mickey’s client. The first season has ten episodes and is based on “The Brass Verdict.”

Upcoming new book release: ‘The Dark Hours’ by Michael Connelly

‘The Dark Hours’ is a the new Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly. Photo: amazon

Michael Connelly is the author of thirty-five previous novels, including the New York Times bestsellers “The Law of Innocence,” “Fair Warning,” and “The Night Fire.” His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, and the creator and host of the podcasts Murder Book and The Wonderland Murders. In his new novel “The Dark Hours,” a brazen, methodical killer strikes on New Year’s Eve and LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch must join forces to find justice for the victim in a city scarred by fear and social unrest. It will be released on Tuesday, November 9 and is available for pre-order on amazon. (amazon, 2021)

“The Dark Hours” – There is chaos in Hollywood at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD detective Renée Ballard waits out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. Only minutes after midnight, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party. Ballard concludes that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and that it is linked to another unsolved murder—a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch. At the same time, Ballard hunts a fiendish pair of serial rapists, the Midnight Men, who have been terrorizing women and leaving no trace. Determined to solve both cases, Ballard feels like she is constantly running uphill in a police department indelibly changed by the pandemic and recent social unrest. It is a department so hampered by inertia and low morale that Ballard must go outside to the one detective she can count on: Harry Bosch. But as the two inexorable detectives work together to find out where old and new cases intersect, they must constantly look over their shoulders. The brutal predators they are tracking are ready to kill to keep their secrets hidden.

Bosch season 7 premieres this month

Bosch’s seventh and final season will premiere all eight episodes of its final season on Amazon Prime Video. Photo: google

Michael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction. His works include The New York Times bestsellers, “The Law of Innocence,” “Fair Warning,” and “The Night Fire.” His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, and the creator and host of the podcast Murder Book. The seventh and final season of Bosch is set to premiere on Friday June 25, 2021 on Amazon Prime Video. (amazon, 2021)

Bosch is a police procedural streaming television series produced by Amazon Studios and stars Titus Welliver as Los Angeles Police detective Harry Bosch. Harry Bosch is a fictional character created by Michael Connelly. Bosch debuted as the lead character in his 1992 novel “The Black Echo,” the first in a best-selling police procedural series, which now number 21. Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch is a veteran police homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department and was named after the 15th-century Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch.  His mother was a prostitute who was murdered when Harry was a young boy and his father was Mickey Haller Sr., a defense attorney known for representing prominent clients. His half-brother is Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles-based defense attorney who made his first appearance in the novel “The Lincoln Lawyer,” which was made into a movie starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller.

In the books, Bosch served in Vietnam, but in the series, he is a veteran of the first Gulf War so that events can happen in the present day time, as they did in the books. I am a huge fan of Michael Connelly’s books and have read most of the Harry Bosch novels. It is always exciting to see a character you come to know and love from books on screen, whether they be movies of a series. I caught most of the first season and it stays close to the books’ storyline; I might even go back and binge them all before the final season premieres.

Upcoming release: ‘The Law of Innocence’ by Michael Connally

‘The Law of Innocence’ is Michael Connelly’s upcoming new Lincoln Lawyer novel. Photo: amazon

Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of over thirty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His first novel, “The Black Echo,” won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, “Blood Work.” In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, “The Lincoln Lawyer,” hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent bestsellers include “Fair Warning,” “The Night Fire,” “The Burning Room” and “The Gods of Guilt.” Michael is the executive producer of BOSCH, an Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime. His new book “The Law of Innocence (A Lincoln Lawyer Novel, Book 6)” will be released on Tuesday, November 10, 2020.

In “The Law of Innocence,” Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller must defend himself against murder charges. On the night he celebrates a big win, Mickey is pulled over by the police, who find the body of a former client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is immediately charged with murder but cannot post the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge. He elects to represent himself and is forced to mount his defense from his jail cell in the Twin Towers Correctional Center in downtown Los Angeles. All the while, he needs to look over his shoulder because as an officer of the court he is an instant target and he makes few friends when he reveals a corruption plot within the jail. Haller knows he has been framed, whether by a new enemy or an old one. As his trusted team, including his half-brother, Harry Bosch, investigates, Haller must use all his skills in the courtroom to counter the damning evidence against him. Even if he can obtain a not-guilty verdict, Mickey understands that it will not be enough. In order to be truly exonerated, he must find out who really committed the murder and why. That is the law of innocence.

Best seller of the month: ‘The Late Show’ by Michael Connelly

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‘The Late Show’ by Michael Connelly holds the top stop on The New York Times best seller list. Photo: amazon

New to the best seller list on The New York Times is “The Late Show” by Michael Connelly. It was released this month and it holds the number one spot on the list. Michael Connelly is the author of detective novels and other crime fiction, the most popular being the ones featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. With “The Late Show” he introduces Renee Ballard, a young detective fighting to prove herself on the LAPD’s toughest beat.

According to Amazon, in “The Late Show,” Renee Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, also known as the Late Show. She was once an up-and-coming detective but she was given this shift as punishment for filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. Now, she begins many investigations but does not finish them because each morning she turns everything over to the day shift. One night she gets two assignments that she does not want to hand off: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Determined not to let go of the cases, she works both by day while maintaining her shift by night. The deeper she delves into the investigation, the closer they pull her to her own demons.

Michael Connelly is the best-selling author of twenty-eight novels and one work of fiction. He has sold over sixty million copies of his books worldwide and they have been translated into thirty-nine foreign languages. Before turning to writing, he was a newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. His first book, “The Black Echo” won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. Movie adaptations of his novels include “Blood Work” starring Clint Eastwood and “The Lincoln Lawyer” starring Matthew McConaughey. The series of books featuring Harry Bosch is now an Amazon Studios drama series starring Titus Wellliver and is streaming on Amazon Prime.