The Black Box, by Michael Connelly

This was an audio book.

Another great Harry Bosch story, set in nearly contemporary time, ca. 2012. Harry investigates a cold case that dates to the Rodney King LA riots of 1992. At the time of the riots, Bosch and a partner responded to the murder of a woman, but in the thick of action and danger, with the National Guard deployed all around them, they were only able to do a very quick and preliminary investigation of the body and the crime scene, then were forced to rush to another murder. 20 years later, Bosch picks up the threads, and unravels an amazing fabric of conspiracy.

This is the stuff we go to Connelly for.

A Cold Heart, by Jonathan Kellerman

An Alex Delaware / Milo Sturgis novel. This was an audio book. Published in 2003.

This book begins with the murder of a blues guitarist named Baby Boy who has just come out of rehab and is on the road to making a comeback with his music. As Delaware and Sturgis become involved, as well as Det. Petra Connor and a new character named Det. Stahl, it becomes evident that this murder is related to others, and the mystery deepens.

I was a bit worried about Detective Eric Stahl, as he seemed doomed from the beginning of the story, similar to the joke about the nameless character you've never seen before in any given Star Trek episode, but he turned out to be a bit more multi-dimensional.

It's a good mystery with decent denoument. Kellerman is a master of the form.

At this stage of the series, Delaware is not living with Robin, and has a new woman-friend named Allison, who is also a psychotherapist. Milo is still with Rick, Petra is single. Eric Stahl's story is revealed near the end of the book.

This recording enhanced many miles of commuting.

The Golden Orange, by Joseph Wambaugh

Starring Winnie Farlowe, ex-cop with a bad back, who becomes entangled with a very unlikely woman in another of Wambaugh's wonderful Southern California police-related novels. Great plot, very entertaining, with lots of local color. Set mostly in Newport Beach.

Harbor Nocturne, by Joseph Wambaugh

This was an audio book.

An interesting story, well done, that deals primarily with a human trafficking case in which several would-be migrants to the USA lose their lives. The bad guys include a Ukranian and Korean gangster who have formed an unlikely and unholy alliance, and a low-level hustler from San Pedro who, in becoming their lackey, has found himself seriously out of his depth.

There is a central character, Dinko Babich, of Croatian ancestry, a young man who lives in San Pedro with his widowed mother. He falls in love with a young girl who has been illicitly transported from Mexico to work as a stripper. She is in deep trouble with the above-mentioned gangsters.

Woven in and out of the plot are a group of wonderful LAPD characters. There is the story of these police officers, that of the gangsters, the young Mexican girl, Dinko and his mother--and all of these stories play out together, rushing in and out of the focus of the novel like the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

And one mustn't forget Hollywood. Hollywood is all over, and all through this book. There are the super-hero impersonators, the stars in the pavement, and the insanity that is, in the words of the cops, "fucking Hollywood."

This was a terrific novel, of course, which provided a lot of boredom-relief on my commute for a few days.

Black Money, by Ross MacDonald

Vintage Crime 1996, copyright 1965. ISBN 0679768106. 238 pages.

I recall being introduced many years ago to Ross MacDonald's work by someone who said MacDonald was a latter-day Raymond Chandler. I suppose that was true, latter day being the 60s rather than the 30s, but that was a long time ago. (Incidentally, the author's real name was Kenneth Millar. Click on the title of this entry for a link to a detailed article about Millar/MacDonald's life and work.)

In Black Money, Lew Archer is hired by a wealthy young man who has lost the girl of his dreams to a man who appears to be some kind of a scoundrel. Martel claims to be from France, a political refugee unpopular with the DeGaulle regime. Young Virginia Fablon is very much taken with Martel, and cannot be persuaded to see him as anyone other than who he claims to be.

Virginia's father died in what was judged a suicide about seven years before this story takes place. Her mother is beginning to find it difficult to maintain a lifestyle such as that enjoyed by her neighbors in this seaside country-club community of the rich.

When Archer begins to investigate Martel, he is met with threats, and soon senses a greater mystery than the simple seduction of young Virginia by this mysterious and unlikely man.

As one always expects in MacDonald's work, there are great characters, a deviously complicated plot, and plenty of gritty observations from the narrator, Lew Archer. This is the hardboiled detective formula at its very best, and every page is a pleasure.

The lobby of the hotel was the mouth of a tourist trap which had lost its bite. There were scuff-marks on the furniture, dust on the philodendrons. The bellhop wore an old blue uniform which looked as if he had fought through the Civil War in it.