Judith L. (jlautner) reviewed on 9/3/2021 + 105 more book reviews

Harry Bosch teams up with Renee Ballard in solving a cold case - brutal death of a fifteen-year-old runaway named Daisy Clayton. Daisy's mom, newly clean, had found her way into Bosch's life and Bosch invited her to stay at his place until she found her feet and while Bosch investigated her daughter's death as a "hobby case".

Bosch is still working for the San Fernando police department as a temp and working those cases as well, including a gang-related cold case. Ballard is on LAPD night duty, having overstepped in a previous case, and is therefore available for callouts at any time.

The two of them go through several boxes of old "shake cards": 3X5 cards written up by police who stopped people in the area of the murder for whatever reason, and wrote up basics about the person: sex, age, type car (if driving), why stopped, comments. They hoped to find someone who might have been in the area who met some of their criteria as a possible killer. These types of cards had been challenged in court for obvious reasons but were still being written, especially at the time of the murder.

The "possibles" were set aside and investigated later by one or both detectives. As they had their regular jobs to do, they were unable to focus entirely on this case. The gang-related case blows up and pulls Bosch in, threatening more than Bosch's focus.

Connelly's straightforward style enhances the tension in this procedural, and his knowledge of the way the department works and the way detectives think make the action real and believable. The details matter.

I have become fond of Bosch over the years and hope he outlives me. I don't care for the television version, unfortunately, although Connelly does.

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