Quotes from Michael Connelly

They walked back to Bosch's car in silence. Ballard guessed that they were both rethinking the scenario they had just spun, looking for holes in

I gravitated toward music that invoked loneliness in me. Jazz. More to the point, the sound of the jazz saxophone. I started with the essentials—John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter

BMW electrics that were used by the forensics teams. The department had bought a fleet of them for use by detectives, but the sixty-mile range per battery charge limited their usefulness when detectives needed to go farther while riding the momentum of a case. The advertised range also dropped considerably in freeway driving, and it was a rare thing to conduct an investigation in L.A. without driving on a freeway.

She keyed the mic. "I'm not in detectives. Hold my 'boyfriend' there. I'll come get him." "Roger that." "Hey, L-T. We have a PO on Hollywood roster

You can become unhinged and cut loose from the world. You can believe you are a permanent outsider. But the innocence of a child will bring you back and give you the shield of joy with which to protect yourself.

It was in Frank Morgan's alto sax that I found the soundtrack of my detective. In his sad but uplifting ballad "Lullaby," written by pianist George Cables, I discovered my detective's anthem. For many years I played that song at the start of each writing day.

the biggest barricades in the so-called justice system were on the inside, before you even got out the door.

People too poor to afford their own legal defense and reliant on the government that was prosecuting them to also defend them.

It was difficult work. Bosch never got accustomed to viewing crime scenes. He had been to hundreds of them and seen the result of human inhumanity too many times to count. He always thought that if he got used to it, then he had lost something inside that was needed to do the job right. You had to have an emotional response. It was that response that lit the match that started the fire of relentlessness.

situation and to decide

would have to reveal to Emily the rift that had

within reach, especially if the shooter had to lean over or go around the counter to grab bullet casings. Why not take

civil unrest instead of rioting.

Is somebody in there now?" "Yeah, a guy. Stormy Monday took it." "That's the name he uses?" "Yeah. People 'round here use a lot of different names, you know? They've left their other names behind." "Got it. Let's go talk to Stormy. I've got to look inside." "He's not a happy guy when you wake him up. They call him Stormy Monday but he's kind of a dick every single day.

didn't move his eyes from the word even as

Livingstone had said sympathy was no substitute for action.

Kids are amazing, as long as they have the push in the right direction at home." Lourdes

the judge ignore it and drop

she was collateral damage

Shelly Berg Trio's take on "Blackbird

Through it all he was haunted by only one thing. His daughter. Not having had final words with her. Not being able to watch her prosper as an adult. It tore him up to think that he would never see or speak to her again. Guilt overtook him as he acknowledged that he had squandered the past several months as Maddie's father trying to save a woman who didn't want to be saved. In the darkest hours before dawn, hot tears of regret had rolled down his cheeks.

the best defense was a good lock or a mean dog. Or both.

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy

Out of the blue and into the black is what they called going into a tunnel. Each one was a black echo. Nothing but death in there. But, still, they went. Bosch