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Author | Michael Connelly |
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Language | English |
Series | Harry Bosch, #3 |
Genre | Crime novel |
Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
Publication date | June 1, 1994 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
Pages | 392 |
ISBN | 0-316-15383-4 |
OCLC | 28585568 |
813/.54 20 | |
LC Class | PS3553.O51165 C65 1994 |
Preceded by | The Black Ice |
Followed by | The Last Coyote |
The Concrete Blonde is the third novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It was published in 1994.
Connelly said that he obtained the seed idea for The Concrete Blonde by reading a book detailing actual cases, written for forensic professionals. [1]
LAPD detective Harry Bosch is pursuing "The Dollmaker", a serial killer who applies makeup to his victims. After learning from a prostitute that a recent customer of hers, Norman Church, possessed women's makeup in his bathroom, Bosch breaks into Church's residence and confronts him. Bosch fatally shoots Church when he starts to pull something from under his pillow, only to find that he was fetching his toupee. Bosch is cleared in the shooting by internal affairs, but because since he did not follow proper procedure he is transferred from the elite Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD) back to the Hollywood table. The makeup is found to match those of nine of the Dollmaker's victims.
Four years later, while Bosch is being sued by Church's widow, police receive a note, purportedly from the Dollmaker, which leads to the discovery of a new victim killed using the same modus operandi . Although this victim was encased in concrete, unlike the original eleven victims, all other aspects of the killing are the same. This victim, along with two of the original victims, also fits a different pattern: they were large-breasted blondes in the local adult entertainment industry who also advertised as high-class prostitutes in sex magazines. Bosch and his task force suspect that the copycat, dubbed "the Follower", is Detective Mora from the vice unit. Mora has ties to the adult video industry, had insider knowledge of the Dollmaker case, and was not at work during the killings not attributed to Church.
The task force puts Mora under surveillance, and Bosch breaks into his house looking for evidence that he is the Follower. Instead, Bosch finds that Mora has been making child pornography. Mora returns home, finds Bosch, and threatens to kill him. The rest of the task force arrives, searches the house and determines that he is not the Follower. Believing he knows who the Follower is, Mora proposes a deal: he provides the name of a Professor Locke, agrees to quit the police force, and all of his crimes will be ignored. Mora had received information that Locke had been seen on the set of adult movies where the slain women were cast members.
At his office, Bosch finds another note from the Follower, saying that he will be taking "his blonde." Bosch assumes that he means Bosch's girlfriend Sylvia. When she does not answer her phone, he sends police to her house. He visits an empty house, where a real estate agent appears to show it. Bosch finds Sylvia at his house and takes her to a hotel to protect her. She says that they must spend some time apart for her to decide if she can live with him and his dangerous job.
The next day, Bosch returns to court as the jury is to restart their deliberations. Honey Chandler, the widow's attorney, does not appear. Bosch sends police to her house, as she is also a blonde. The jury reaches a verdict for the plaintiff and awards compensatory damages of one dollar and punitive damages of one dollar to Church's widow. When Bosch arrives at Chandler's house, he discovers that she has been dead for 48 hours, killed in the same manner as the other Dollmaker victims, except that she has burn and bite marks all over her body.
Locke, who had been missing for several days, shows up at the crime scene. Bosch and his partner, Jerome "Jerry" Edgar, interrogate Locke but realize he has a solid alibi. Bosch then follows a Los Angeles Times reporter, Joel Bremmer, and asks if he can come inside his house to purportedly discuss his court case. However, Bosch confronts him as being the Follower, having realized his culpability by the fact that his last letter had mentioned a Times article which hadn't been published yet. Bremmer fights Bosch and gets control of his gun. Bosch, playing on Bremmer's pride, gets him to confess. Bremmer attempts to shoot Bosch, but the gun is empty; Bosch grabs the magazine he had hidden in his sock, hits Bremmer with it, and arrests him. Bosch had also used a hidden recording device to record Bremmer's confession.
The next day, Bosch forces the district attorney's office to charge Bremmer with first degree murder, as the filing attorney is not satisfied with the amount of evidence. The LAPD then obtain a warrant to obtain forensic evidence that is matched to Bremmer. A woman who owns a storage locker company recognizes Bremmer as having rented a locker under a false name, and police find videotapes of Bremmer's killings. Bremmer makes a deal for life without parole in exchange for leading police to the bodies of his other victims. Bosch takes two weeks off from work to make some home improvements. Sylvia eventually returns, and they re-unite and head off for a weekend together.
The Concrete Blonde is written in the police procedural form of crime fiction. In this style the detective interacts with a wide range of individuals who assist in the investigation. [2]
Author Janet Evanovich said The Concrete Blonde was "a classic in Connelly's Harry Bosch detective series--and one of my favorites". [3] The Weekly Standard said that Connelly "proved himself a master of courtroom give-and-take in The Concrete Blonde". [4] The Library Journal review in 1994 said "slick plot twists, fast action and fine suspense mark this excellent thriller and courtroom drama". [5]
Michael Joseph 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. Connelly is the bestselling author of 38 novels and one work of non-fiction, with over 74 million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into 40 languages. His first novel, The Black Echo, won the 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 1997 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of Connelly's novel The Lincoln Lawyer starred Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. Connelly was the President of the Mystery Writers of America from 2003 to 2004.
In law enforcement parlance, the term murder book refers to the case file of a murder investigation. Typically, murder books include crime scene photographs and sketches, autopsy and forensic reports, transcripts of investigators' notes, and witness interviews. The murder book encapsulates the complete paper trail of a murder investigation, from the time the murder is first reported through the arrest of a suspect.
Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch is a fictional character created by American author Michael Connelly. Bosch debuted as the lead character in the 1992 novel The Black Echo, the first in a best-selling police procedural series now numbering 24 novels.
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The Narrows is the 14th novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the tenth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. As Bosch crosses paths with FBI Agent Rachel Walling, the novel ties story elements left unresolved in The Poet and those from Blood Work and A Darkness More Than Night together into the Bosch mythos.
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City of Bones is the twelfth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the eighth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. Published in 2002, it was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times.
A Darkness More Than Night is the tenth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly; it is the seventh featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch, and the second featuring FBI profiler Terry McCaleb, with reporter Jack McEvoy also making an appearance in a supporting role.
Angels Flight is the eighth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the sixth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.
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The Last Coyote is the fourth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It was first published in 1995 and the novel won the 1996 Dilys Award given by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
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The Reversal is the 22nd novel by American author Michael Connelly and features the third major appearance of Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Michael "Mickey" Haller. Connelly introduced Haller in his bestselling 2005 novel The Lincoln Lawyer and then paired him with LAPD detective Harry Bosch, his half-brother, in 2008's The Brass Verdict. In 2009's 9 Dragons, Haller was a secondary character as Bosch's personal lawyer. The Reversal was published in the United States on October 5, 2010.
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The Black Box is the 25th novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the sixteenth novel featuring Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch. The book was published on 26 November 2012, "in part to honor the 20th anniversary of the character".
Bosch is an American police procedural television series produced by Amazon Studios and Fabrik Entertainment starring Titus Welliver as Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch. The show was developed for Amazon by Eric Overmyer, and the first season takes its inspiration from the Michael Connelly novels City of Bones (2002), Echo Park (2006), and The Concrete Blonde (1994). It was one of two drama pilots that Amazon streamed online in early 2014, and viewers offered their opinions on it before the studio decided whether to place a series order. The seventh and final season was released on June 25, 2021.
Bosch: Legacy is an American police procedural television series developed by Michael Connelly, Tom Bernardo and Eric Overmyer. A sequel to the Amazon Prime Video series Bosch (2014–2021), it stars Titus Welliver as former LAPD detective Harry Bosch, with Mimi Rogers and Madison Lintz also reprising their roles. The series premiered on May 6, 2022, on Amazon Freevee with the release of four episodes, with the remaining released weekly, two episodes at a time. The series was renewed for a second season prior to its premiere. The second season premiered on October 20, 2023, again with the release of four episodes, with the remaining episodes to be released weekly, two at a time. The series was later renewed for a third season prior to its second season premiere.