Trunk Music by Michael Connolly

This is my first Michael Connelly, and thus, obviously, my first Harry Bosch mystery. And, as always, I throw continuity to the wind and start somewhere in the middle! Who needs beginnings?

I don't know why I was suspicious of this author. Maybe just how often he's appeared on best seller lists, which, given my recent run-ins with bestsellers (I'm looking at you, Sarah's Key!) starts me off from a position of skepticism.

Maybe it's because, like James Patterson, Connelly has appeared in one of the poker games on Castle. I like Castle, but I'm not hugely fond of Patterson, so I was unfairly lumping them together.

This is not in any way like a James Patterson book. What it is is a very solid police mystery, with some sidebars on evidence tampering, suspicion of police misdeeds and actual police misdeeds, and how one can often look like the other.

Harry Bosch is just back on the job (I don't know why) after an enforced absence, and the first case that comes his way involves a corpse in a trunk, shot at close range. Is this a mob hit? Organized Crime says no, but they say it suspiciously quickly. Victim went to Vegas often, and may have been into something shady there.

The mystery itself is very competently executed, and sufficient twisty for my satisfaction. I enjoyed Bosch's character, and in particular, the relationship he knows he shouldn't pursue but does anyway. The police politics rang true, although I dream of the day when those who try to make sure that police officers aren't abusing their authority aren't automatically villains with massive sticks up their collective asses. Because, dude, it's not like police don't sometimes abuse their authority, and it's not like we don't need some oversight of that stuff.