THE HOLMES ALTERNATIVE--The
other day, this blog learned that Sherlock Holmes will return for yet another
season on the tube. I’m a fan. But, what I’d really like to see is for
Hollywood, TV or Cable to embrace the work of mystery/crime writer Michael
Connelly.
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| Novelist Michael Connelly |
For 20 years fiction writer
Michael Connelly, an ex-LA Times crime beat reporter, has dazzled us with his
crime/courthouse thrillers. Regular
readers have become attached to his the families of Harry Bosch and Mickey
Haller, two of the leading protagonists in Connelly’s roster of popular
novels.
Connelly is an expert in police
procedures and understands how the media reacts to and writes about crime. His award winning style is realistic rather
than romantic. Connelly’s characters are gritty rather than lurid.
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| 2012 |
In the author’s latest paperback
release “The Black Box,” the reader easily finds him/herself in the police
cruiser “riding” shotgun through the means streets of Los Angeles during the
riots of 1992. He’s able to weave
plausible plots filled with suspense and unexpected twists...and he’s been
doing it for 20 years without losing his flair.
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| 1992 |
But Connelly is not perfect. Mickey Haller as a character lives on the
edge of believability regarding his manipulation of the law—but that’s
Hollywood.
Police Detective Harry Bosch is
Connelly’s most dependable character.
The LAPD cop delivers canny
performances book after book.
If Connelly has a flaw it is
casting his net too wide by involving so many characters, but this is a minor
complaint.
Case in point, readers of his
newly released “Black Box” might agree that one female cop character toward the
end of the novel arrives too conveniently to help save the day, but that is
more of a plot weakness than an ill drawn character portrait.
Connelly has an amazing
portfolio. He has well earned his kudos
as America’s best crime fiction writer.
More of his work should be made into film.
Fans are hopeful HBO or
Masterpiece Theater on PBS will serialize his work. Connelly is just as charismatic as Sir.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
Below is a link to the author
discussing his latest paperback debut:
http://www.michaelconnelly.com/novels/theblackbox/videos/
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