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Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
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(Mass Market Paperback - Reissue)
Write a Review- Publisher: St. Martin's Press
- Pub. Date: November 2006
- ISBN-13: 9780312941918
- Sales Rank: 5,174
- 448pp
- Series: Harry Bosch Series, #5
- Edition Description: Reissue
Synopsis
Back on the job after an involuntary leave of absence, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch lands his first case: a Hollywood producer found in the trunk of his Rolls-Royce, shot twice in the head. It looks like "trunk music," a Mafia hit
Washington Post
Compelling...Connelly displays a wonderful atmospheric feel for the posh and the poor...The last pages bring things to a shocking end that should satisfy Connelly's growing audience.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
A former Los Angeles Times crime reporter, Michael Connelly’s familiarity with the seamy side of L.A. adds a steamy kind of street cred to his hardboiled, gritty detective novels -- especially his bestselling series of mysteries featuring dark detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch.
More About the Author
Fact File
Name:
Michael Connelly
Current Home:
Sarasota, Florida
Date of Birth:
July 21, 1956
Place of Birth:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Education:
B.A. in Journalism, University of Florida, 1980
Awards:
Edgar Award for Best First Novel for The Black Echo
Biography
Best known for his dark police procedurals featuring the tough, complex and emotionally scarred LAPD detective, Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch, Michael Connelly has been called "infernally ingenious" (The New York Times), "one of those masters...who can keep driving the story forward in runaway locomotive style" (USA Today) and "the top rank of a new generation of crime writers" (The Los Angeles Times).
Consistently exquisite prose and engrossing storylines play an integral role in his swelling success. However, Connelly believes that solid character development is the most important key. As he explained to MagnaCumMurder.com, "I think books with weak or translucent plots can survive if the character being drawn along the path is rich, interesting and multi-faceted. The opposite is not true."
A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Connelly attended the University of Florida; there he discovered the works of Raymond Chandler -- author of many classic Los Angeles-based noir dramas such as The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, and Farewell, My Lovely. The cases of Philip Marlowe inspired Connelly to be a crime novelist -- and by studying journalism, he put himself in the perfect position. "I went into journalism to learn the craft of writing and to get close to the world I wanted to write about -- police and criminals, the criminal justice system," he told MagnaCumMurder.com.
After graduation, Connelly worked the crime beat for two Florida newspapers. When a story he and a colleague wrote about the disastrous 1985 crash of Delta Flight 191 was short-listed for the Pulitzer, Connelly landed a gig in Marlowe's backyard, covering crime for one of the nation's largest newspapers -- The Los Angeles Times. Three years later, Harry Bosch was introduced in The Black Echo, which earned Connelly the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Connelly has since won every major mystery honor, including the Anthony (The Poet, Blood Work) and the Macavity Award (Blood Work).
While Connelly has written stand-alone novels that don't feature his tragic protagonist Harry Bosch, he is best identified by his rigid, contentious and fiery -- but also immensely skilled and compassionate -- detective. According to The Boston Globe, the Bosch series "raises the hard-boiled detective novel to a new level...adding substance and depth to modern crime fiction."
Called "one of the most compelling, complex protagonists in recent crime fiction" (Newsweek) and "a terrific...wonderful, old-fashioned hero who isn't afraid to walk through the flames -- and suffer the pain for the rest of us" (The New York Times Book Review), Bosch faces unforgettable horrors every day -- either on the street or in his own mind. "Bosch is making up for wrongs done to him when he rights wrongs as a homicide detective," Connelly explained in an interview with his publisher. "In a way, he is an avenging angel."
Bosch is clearly a product of his deadly, unforgiving environment. "The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that when you look into the darkness of the abyss the abyss looks into you. Probably no other line or thought more inspires or informs my work," said Connelly in the same interview. With each passing novel, Bosch looks deeper and deeper into the abyss; and readers continue to return to see just how far he will gaze.
Good to Know
"I wrote a mystery story as a class paper in high school. It was called The Perfect Murder. The protagonist's named was McEvoy, a name I later used for the protagonist in The Poet. Being a witness to a crime when I was 16 was what made me interested in crime novels and mystery stories."
"I wrote my first real murder story as a journalist for the Daytona Beach News Journal in 1980. It was about a body found in the woods. Later, the murder was linked to a serial killer who was later caught and executed for his crimes."
"Everything I want people to know about me is in my books."
Feature Interview
In the spring of 2005, Michael Connelly took some time out to answer some of our questions about his favorite books, authors, and interests. What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer -- and why?
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. I read it in college and immediately subscribed to the idea of the crime novel as art. The book's evocation of Los Angeles and the social commentary on the city inspired me to become a writer.
What are your favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
I don't like listing or ranking favorites. I would say The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, The Black Marble by Joseph Wambaugh and The Underground Man by Ross MacDonald are very important to me because they inspired me as a writer.
I also have loved The Little Sister by Chandler, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Ask the Dust by John Fante, Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you?
Chinatown, Bullitt, The Long Goodbye (with Elliot Gould), The Conversation, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I like movies where characters are put into extreme situations and we get to watch how they react.
What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
I like blues, rock and roll and jazz. I listen exclusively to jazz when writing, because it is not as intrusive as music with lyrics and its improvisational nature is inspiring to me while I do my own kind of improvisation.
If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
The books of George P. Pelecanos because they would be entertained at the same time they would learn the social history of a place and time.
What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
I like to give something that I have read and can absolutely vouch for. Lately, in nonfiction I have given Flyboys by James Bradley and in fiction, Night Fall by Nelson DeMille.
Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I like to control my environment and make it feel the same no matter what time of day I am writing. So I have blackout shades and write by a single lamp that is on my desk.
What are you working on now?
I am in the editing phase on a book called The Lincoln Lawyer, which will be out in October.
Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
I wrote two books as learning experiences before I wrote the book that was the first published. From the time I decided to try to write a novel until the day I held a published novel in my hands was about six years. But I don't think it was a frustrating or arduous time. I had fun writing. If you are not enjoying it, you shouldn't be doing it.
If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
I just finished a legal thriller called The Lincoln Lawyer. I am now reading a legal thriller called Final Verdict by Joel Goldman. It will be out in January as a paperback original. As I am reading it -- I am almost finished -- I am really enjoying it but at the same time it makes me wonder at the vagaries of the publishing business. I know Lincoln Lawyer will get a lot of attention and a good ride. I think Final Verdict is in the same league, and I hope that it gets some of the same attention.
What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Put your efforts into the writing. Its either on the page or not and it has to be there before you can even hope to be discovered.
From Barnes & Noble
The murder of a Hollywood producer has all the signs of a Mafia hit, but something doesn't add up. Battling impertinent superiors, disgraced LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch follows a string of odd clues until he uncovers a scheme many magnitudes more deadly than he'd imagined--with himself as the next target. Now Harry must prove himself not just by breaking the case, but surviving it. "Truly one of the year's best entertainments." Booklist.
From the Publisher
When B-grade L.A. movie producer Tony Aliso is found stuffed into the trunk of his Rolls Royce, all signs point to “trunk music” —a mob hit. Detective Harry Bosch, just back from an “involuntary stress leave,” is not so sure. And when he finds the money trail, he follows it…all the way to Vegas.
Seems this Tony had his share of enemies, and in no time, so does Harry: Vegas thugs, LAPD's organized crime unit, a smarmy internal affairs investigator and, of course, Tony's killers. Everyone wants a piece of Harry. And somehow, they've found just the way to get it. . .
Turns out that just before his death, Tony was seen at a Vegas poker table with one Eleanor Wish'ex-FBI agent, ex-convict . . . and ex-love of Harry's life. Now it's time for Harry to keep his cards close to the table—and his enemies even closer before it's time to face the TRUNK MUSIC
Washington Post
Compelling...Connelly displays a wonderful atmospheric feel for the posh and the poor...The last pages bring things to a shocking end that should satisfy Connelly's growing audience.
People
For those seeking the kind of action that takes more turns than a roulette wheel, Trunk Music is a sure bet.
Publishers Weekly
From the opening bars, when the body of Tony Aliso is pulled from the trunk of his Rolls Royce Silver Cloud on Mulholland Drive, to the final grace note on a Hawaiian beach, Connelly has crafted a jazzy, funky, roller coaster of a book. The return of maverick L.A. homicide detective Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch (from 1995's The Last Coyote) is cause for rejoicing. The Aliso murder quickly embroils Bosch and his new team (Kizmin Rider, a young black female officer on the rise in the department; veteran Jerry Edgar; and their boss, Lieutenant Grace Billets) in a Byzantine tangle of Las Vegas mob money, Hollywood filmmaking and police politics. The plot rushes headlong into deadends and deadfalls, repeatedly reorients and tears off in a new direction. Never known for tact, the single-minded Bosch is soon hotfooting through an acronymic snakepit: the LAPD's OCID (Organized Crime Investigation Division); the IAD (Internal Affairs Division); the LVPD's OCU (Las Vegas Police Department's Organized Crime Unit); the FBI. Not only does each organization claim a piece of the action, but each also wants a piece of Bosch. Connelly has it all working together here: skillful dialogue, solid plotting, nuances of race and status and a pace that will leave readers gasping to keep up. Connelly's early promise (The Black Echo earned him the 1993 Edgar for best first novel) has been borne out nicely by succeeding novels. Trunk Music is his best yet. $400,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Jan.)
Library Journal
Homicide dick Harry Bosch investigates the murder of a Hollywood producer in this latest from the author of the Edgar Award-winning The Black Echo (LJ 1/92).
Kirkus Reviews
Hollywood homicide dick Harry Bosch goes up against whoever killed high-rolling, lowlife filmmaker Tony Aliso and tipped his body into the trunk of his Rolls.
The early buzz on the case shouts Las Vegas—so Harry heads out there in hopes of tracking down Tony's latest companion, a stripper named Layla. Instead he finds a trail of evidence that links Tony to a money-laundering operation for Joey Marks, the outfit's top man in Vegas; to Dolly's, a strip club owned by Marks lieutenant Luke ("Lucky") Goshen; and to Eleanor Wish, an ex-FBI agent whose activities took her to Harry's bed and a stretch in the pen before she turned up on video playing poker at Tony's side. Tough-guy Harry (The Last Coyote, 1995, etc.), incredibly still carrying a torch for Eleanor, wastes no time rekindling their affair—Eleanor's sullenness cracks just long enough for some brisk sex—and then finds he has to cut all sorts of deals with the Vegas cops and his own department to keep her out of the case he's building against Lucky Goshen. Back in L.A., deeper trouble awaits: When Harry lays out the case against Goshen—motive, fingerprints, murder weapon—he's told that Goshen's an undercover FBI agent with an ironclad alibi and that he's dashed into the middle of a sting that's been years in the making. Relieved once again of his homicide assignment, Harry—together with trusty sidekicks Jerry Edgar and Kiz Rider—goes up against Tony's killers himself, with results as gripping and satisfying as they are improbable.
Forget realism, okay? If you'd like to see a buried love affair take off like a rocket and a bunch of crooks and crooked cops as canny and treacherous as le Carré's spies, you've come to the right place.
Product Details
- ISBN:
0312941919
- ISBN-13: 9780312941918
- Format: Mass Market Paperback, 448pp
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press
- Pub. Date: November 2006
- Edition Description: Reissue
- Sales Rank: 5,174
- Series: Harry Bosch Series, #5
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