‘The Late Show’ By Michael Connelly

Published by Little, Brown and Company,
18 July 2017.
ISBN: 978-0-316-22598-4 (HB)

Published by Grand Central Publishing,
25 January 2018.
ISBN 978-1-4555-2423-5 (PB)

Published (UK) by Orion,
11 July 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-140914554-7 (HB)

Michael Connelly has written two previous series featuring memorable protagonists.  The first was Harry Bosch, the irascible LA detective.  Then he created the Lincoln Lawyer, who made his office in the car of the same name, and turned out to be Harry’s half-brother.  Now Connelly has introduced another, detective Renee Ballard, sure to anchor a third series on a par with the excellent predecessors.

The title refers to the undesirable overnight shift to which Ballard was banished following a failed sexual harassment accusation she made at the Lieutenant who supervised her in the homicide-robbery squad. Late Show detectives rarely saw a case from start to finish, frustrating to Ballard, a top-notch operator.  We follow Ballard as she picks up a case and finally gets a chance to finish it. More importantly, she gets involved on her own time in a murder investigation, with results that aren’t even contemplated by those responsible for the investigation.

The author’s trademarks, attention to details, accurate descriptions of the locations of the action and similar attributes, are apparent in the novel.  But more important is his ability to build a character.  And he has in Ballard, who is an obvious keeper.  We’ll be seeing more of her in the future.  Meanwhile, there is a new Harry Bosch novel we can enjoy coming in the Fall.  Another featuring Ballard and Bosch might be interesting as well. Highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Theodore Feit

Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12 years old. Michael decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat.  In Fort Lauderdale, he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written. After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America.  Fifty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine foreign languages. Michael lives with his family in Florida.

http://www.michaelconnelly.com/

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloriawas the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in lower Manhattan. Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly publications.  Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're now retired, they're able to indulge that passion.  Their reviews appear online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US.  On a more personal note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine grandchildren between them