What am I reading these days, I hear you ask? Fair question. The answer is “Fair Warning,” by Michael Connelly. It’s the latest installment of his Jack McEvoy ace reporter series. Not to be confused with his Harry Bosch ace detective series. Or his Lincoln Lawyer series featuring Mickey Haller, who is – as you might imagine based on the name – a lawyer who operates his practice out of the back seat of a chauffeur-driven Lincoln limousine.
Got all that? Good.
Connelly has been at it a long time. He’s almost the same age as me, only a lot richer. After a brief career as a newspaper reporter, he wised up and started writing crime fiction. Good move, Mike. After 36 novels which have sold over 80 million copies worldwide, he more recently branched out into movies and TV as an executive producer. Taken together, he’s now conservatively worth around $250 million. Not bad for a former ink-stained wretch, eh?
Since we’re so close in age, I decided to go back and read his first offering, The Black Echo, which won the prestigious Edgar Award for best debut mystery back in 1992. A lot has changed in the world over the past 3 decades, most notably communications technology and social mores. I mean, The Black Echo has reporters using payphones to call in stories to their editors, and detectives typing up crime scene reports on IBM Selectric typewriters, fercrinoutloud. Also, smoking in the office was commonplace in ’92 but is verboten today. See what I mean? Apologies to Aldous Huxley, but it really is a Brave New World.
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All of Connelly’s stories take place in L.A. which is where we used to live back in the day. And his style pays homage to the iconic L.A. noir novelist Raymond Chandler. Back in ’92, the backstory for The Black Echo was heroin smuggling from Vietnam in the days following the fall of Saigon. Today, with Fair Warning, it’s the unregulated sale of genetic information used by a serial killer to track potential victims. But regardless of whether the good guys are calling on cell phones or payphones, Connelly’s flair for describing the dark underbelly of urban street life remains constant. And whether the loot is a safe-deposit box full of diamonds, or genetic code from a DNA lab, his knack for relentlessly driving a plot forward is second to none.
Stay tuned for Connelly’s latest, The Dark Hours, due out in just 5 short days. It features his newest protagonist, female detective Renee Ballard. I know, I know, waiting is hard. But try to contain your excitement please. The Dark Hours will be here before you know it.