I have done an inordinate amount of reading over the past several months. It’s all I want to do with my free time (except for that one game I play on my phone!). This has something to do, I am sure, with my father’s death at the end of March. Reading is comforting to me. And July was pretty much one big comfort read, which means this is going to be a short post despite the fact that I read 15 books!
I mentioned at the end of June’s post that we would be going to the used bookstore soon. I was not wrong, and that is why I read SO MANY BOOKS. I have told y’all before how much I like Michael Connelly books. I stumbled onto his work shortly after our house burned down and I lost all my books. Some friends shared unwanted books with me, and I discovered several new-to-me authors this way.
Because of the way I discovered his work, I have been reading his books in no particular order, just picking up one or two along with works from other favorite authors on every visit to McKay’s. But this time I brought along a list of all his books that I had not read and bought every single one that was available. There are still a couple left to read, but I made a respectable dent.
I won’t attempt to describe all of the books that follow individually, so I will just tell you that most of them were about Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, a Vietnam vet turned LAPD homicide detective, whose mantra is “everyone matters or nobody matters.” He’s a complicated character who you will root for despite his flaws. Many of the books include other characters who appear on their own in other books. Most famous would be Mickey Haller, a defense attorney who is introduced in The Lincoln Lawyer, so-called because his office is in his car. Mickey happens to be Harry’s half-brother, but they don’t meet until adulthood. Mickey defends people who are guilty, and he is not above using a trick or two, but he too is complicated and has a conscience. Other characters who appear from time to time but who also have books of their own are Jack McElvoy, a newspaper reporter; Renee Ballard, another LAPD detective; Rachel Walling, an FBI agent; and Terry McCaleb, former FBI profiler.
I thoroughly enjoyed every book in the list below. If you like police procedurals or legal thrillers, you will enjoy them too.
Echo Park by Michael Connelly
City of Bones by Michael Connelly
The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly
Black Ice by Michael Connelly
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly
Lost Light by Michael Connelly
The Wrong Side of Good-bye by Michael Connelly
Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly
The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
9 Dragons by Michael Connelly
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
When I was at McKay’s, I picked up just one book by Jonathan Kellerman. His books I have been reading much longer. Back in the day–WAY back in the day, probably 30 years ago, I was in the habit of joining as many “book clubs” as possible. Think Columbia House Record and Tape club but with books (I did that one too, y’all.). Basically, they give you a bunch of free books and you have to buy a couple more before you can cancel, which I always did immediately. And since there was a catalogue you had to choose from, I looked for the kind of books I liked, and discovered Kellerman’s work. His main character is Alex Delaware, a psychologist who consults with the LAPD, because his best friend is Milo Sturgis, an LAPD homicide detective with an exceptional solve rate. So these books add a side of psychology to the police procedural. The one I read this month was a “murder in retrospect,” something I originally encountered in Agatha Christie’s works, and which I always find intriguing.
Serpentine by Jonathan Kellerman
The next on was a free Amazon Prime monthly read by an author whose name I recognized from A Very Bad Thing, which I also got for free. Like so many books of this type (psychological thrillers/mysteries) it starts in the middle of the action with a woman running for her life from some terrible predator, and then we get taken back to the beginning to find out who she is and what happened to her. The plot strains credulity but there’s nothing new about that. I did enjoy it.
Last Seen by JT Ellison
Finally, we have this treasure, which was the best book I read in 2021. I read it again for my book club in 2022, and this time I read it out loud for my family. I had been dying for any of them to read it, and when they did not, I decided to take matters into my own hands. That’s how much I want people to read this book. I think everyone should read it. It’s just delightful, and uplifting, and has an important message. And if you don’t love the titular character, there is something wrong with you.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
That’s it for July. Not, GO READ PIRANESI. It’s short–you can do it!
