Book review: A brand new detective hits the scene

Irish Examiner

14-06-2025

Nightshade is Michael Connelly's 40th thriller in a career that's spanned a couple of decades.
He has arguably created one of the crime thriller genre's most memorable and beloved characters, Hieronymus 'Harry' Bosch, which has spawned two TV series — Bosch and Bosch Legacy on Prime — suitably starring Titus Welliver as Bosch.
He's also created The Lincoln Lawyer, aka Mickey Haller, another charismatic lead character, and yet another successful TV series, this time on Netflix.
To say Connelly has pedigree is an understatement; his books have sold over 80m copies worldwide, the man knows how to write a best-selling novel.
In this book he introduces us to a new lead character — LAPD detective Stilwell (we never hear his first name).
Stilwell heads up the Sheriff's department on the destination island of Santa Catalina off the coast of LA.
We find out that he's been forced out of the LAPD homicide department after a run-in with another detective.
Catalina, we discover, is where misfit LA cops are banished to.
It's a typical tourist destination, with rich tourists descending on the island in their boats during the season.
The main crimes tend to be low-level, with judges arriving on the island once a week to try new cases.
When we meet Stilwell, he's greeting Judge Harrell at the harbour to fill him in on this week's cases, including an animal mutilation.
While Stilwell is investigating the mutilation case at a local alien tours depot, he gets a call from one of his deputies informing him that a body has been found in the harbour.
The body is that of a young woman who worked at the Black Marlin Club, a gentlemen's club on the island.
Connelly skillfully weaves this main crime in with the mutilation case and the action jumps from Catalina to LA and back again.
With Stilwell, we see the character development that Connelly is famous for.
Like Bosch, and Haller to a certain extent, Stilwell pushes against the rules, edges around the regulations. But at his heart he's a decent person who is invested in the victim.
And Stilwell has his own quirks too; in the first interaction with Judge Harrell he anticipates the judge's every need and has the means necessary to attend to them — a pencil in his top pocket, a towel for the judge who swam ashore from his boat.
And we see that smart-assness too that Bosch and Haller also have, where they give as good as they get.
Stilwell is no pushover. He's a quick thinker, and has that ability to think outside the box that makes him a good detective.
He cares about the people who he works with and who he has relationships with, and when the case spirals in the middle of the book, we see the lengths he will go to to protect the ones he loves.
But like Bosch and Haller, Stilwell has his flaws, and that's what Connelly does so well, he gives his characters layers. These are not one-dimensional people.
Stilwell has a tendency to act first and think later; we see in the book that this can cause trouble.
But beneath it all, we know that Stilwell won't rest until the murder case is solved and someone is held accountable.
This is a good introduction to this new character. We're given enough to become invested in Stilwell and the new location of Catalina, and there are plenty of open-ended questions hanging that leave the reader wanting more.
Will Stilwell become the next big detective series for Connelly? The signs are pretty good.