Sunday, June 20, 2021

The Black Box

It is May 1992 in Los Angeles and the riot is in full swing.  Harry Bosch and partner Jerry Edgar are in the back of a squad car as they go from crime scene to crime scene.  There is not time for real investigations, just an opportunity to photograph the scene and collect any obvious evidence.  Perhaps the murders can be solved after the riot.  They arrive at an alley where National Guard troops have found the body of a Danish photographer.  Before they can do more than a cursory investigation and locate a single 9mm cartridge, they are called to another murder.

It is 2012 and Bosch is working Open Unsolved.  There has been a match on the cartridge he found 20 years before.  Multiple gang murders can be linked to the gun and Bosch learns of a gangbanger who is doing time in San Quentin for one of those murders.  He learns who gave him the gun and who he returned it to.  That man is dead and the gun hasn't been part of a crime since, as far as LAPD knows.  As Harry pursues the case, he finds roadblocks from his Lieutenant and even the Chief of Police.  It is nearly the 20 year anniversary of the LA Riots and it would look bad if the only crime solved was that of a white woman.  Despite a bogus investigation by Internal Affairs, Harry presses the case and even goes rogue to keep his momentum.

Definitely a good read but I must be getting too familiar with Connelly.  I picked out the twist in the opening and was a bit miffed that Harry didn't.  Recommended.

No comments: