The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

This is the third in Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, and starts by giving us a flashback to the Dollmaker case that’s been referenced a few times in the first two books. The narrative then jumps forward to the present, and leads us into a court case where Bosch (and the LAPD) is being sued by the Dollmaker’s widow. As the trial gets under way, Bosch receives a letter from someone claiming to be the real Dollmaker, suggesting that Bosch killed the wrong man four years earlier. What follows is an interesting mix of legal drama meets crime thriller.

While I enjoyed this one slightly more than the previous two, it’s still not quite reaching the four-stars level. The writing style has definitely improved across the three novels, and Bosch is slowing developing into something of a likeable character, though I think there’s still plenty of room for improvement. That said, I’m still going to keep reading, and I’m genuinely looking forward to the next one.