Michael Connelly’s Bosch series are really enjoyable crime novels – Bosch is a detective who works really hard and is determined to solve crimes, even to the extent of being haunted by unsolved cases that are decades old. While the crimes can be unpleasant, Connelly doesn’t seem to relish his victims’ pain, and the detective shows appropriate disgust and disquiet when dealing with them. An insight is given to the police system, and how different politics can affect law enforcement.
I’ve read a number of Bosch books out of sequence, and I think this is one of the earliest. A man is caught with plastic bags with body parts in his car, and, in a bid to avoid the death penalty, offers to give details of other murders he has committed. One is a crime that has haunted Bosch for years, when Marie Gesto went missing, and her body was never found. He is pulled in as he is still seeking to solve the case, in the cold case division.
Personally, I find that some crime authors seem to delight in the gore (Patterson), or the deus ex machina events (Deaver), or the personal lives of the detective (Rowling, but also Nesbo to an extent). For me, the Bosch books focus on methodical detective work, chasing up clues and leads, and solving the crimes, without too much of those type of flaws. The series hangs together well with recurring characters and interactions, but can stand alone.
