He walked away from the job three years ago. But Harry Bosch cannot resist the call to join the elite Open/Unsolved Unit. His mission: solve murders whose investigations were flawed, stalled, or abandoned to L.A.’s tides of crime. With some people openly rooting for his failure, Harry catches the case of a teenager dragged off to her death on Oat Mountain, and traces the DNA on the murder weapon to a small-time criminal. But something bigger and darker beckons, and Harry must battle to fit all the pieces together. Shaking cages and rattling ghosts, he will push the rules to the limit—and expose the kind of truth that shatters lives, ends careers, and keeps the dead whispering in the night…--Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods, Copyright ©2008 by Stuart Woods, published by Putnam Books
My Review
After three years of doing his own thing, Harry Bosch is rejoining the Los Angeles Police Department, working with his old partner, Kizmin Rider, in the Open/Unsolved Unit. (Ever watch Cold Case? Then you’ve got the idea.) While some people are happy to see Harry back on the job, some people are not, and they let him know it. Harry doesn’t let it bother him, though. He’s just happy to be working again.
The first case Harry and Kiz pick up is the unsolved murder of a sixteen year old teenager, Rebecca Verloren. She was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night and shot in the woods behind her house. The gun was found on the scene. DNA on the gun, which wasn’t around at the time of the murder, hit on a known felon, Roland Mackey, but he didn’t have any noticeable ties to Becky.
But there could be a connection. Mackey was rumored to be a kind of white supremacist, and Becky was mix-raced. Could Roland’s old gang have something to do with her murder? If not them, then it was probably her boyfriend, the one she got pregnant by but never told her parents about…the boyfriend or the pregnancy.
Mackey looks good for the murder, but his DNA on the murder weapon means he had the gun in his possession, not that he killed Becky. Not enough proof. So Harry and Kiz work to find the proof. Along the way, they uncover a nasty little secret the department has been hiding, a secret that, if uncovered, could cost Harry his job barely before it’s begun.
The first case Harry and Kiz pick up is the unsolved murder of a sixteen year old teenager, Rebecca Verloren. She was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night and shot in the woods behind her house. The gun was found on the scene. DNA on the gun, which wasn’t around at the time of the murder, hit on a known felon, Roland Mackey, but he didn’t have any noticeable ties to Becky.
But there could be a connection. Mackey was rumored to be a kind of white supremacist, and Becky was mix-raced. Could Roland’s old gang have something to do with her murder? If not them, then it was probably her boyfriend, the one she got pregnant by but never told her parents about…the boyfriend or the pregnancy.
Mackey looks good for the murder, but his DNA on the murder weapon means he had the gun in his possession, not that he killed Becky. Not enough proof. So Harry and Kiz work to find the proof. Along the way, they uncover a nasty little secret the department has been hiding, a secret that, if uncovered, could cost Harry his job barely before it’s begun.
I have several of Michael Connelly’s books, but unlike my usual procedure with series, I’m not reading these in any particular order. It does leave me slightly disoriented at times and raises some minor questions in my mind about Harry. Perhaps one day I’ll retrace my steps, find book 1 and start from there. Then my questions will be answered. Maybe...
I give this story THREE STARS.
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