Nightshade
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4.2 • 43 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
No. 1 internationally bestselling author Michael Connelly introduces Detective Stilwell: a determined cop on a purgatory beat in paradise.
Detective Stilwell of the Los Angeles County Sherriff's department has been exiled. Once he manned a mainland homicide desk; now internal politics have relegated him to a low-key post, policing rustic Catalina Island. He's beginning to think he could get used to it.
It's all business as usual in his new territory, following up drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts, until Stilwell receives a report of a body found wrapped in plastic at the bottom of the harbour. He begins working the case, and soon he's forced to cross all lines of protocol and jurisdiction in pursuit of justice.
But when Stilwell discovers dark secrets hidden in the shadows he must now ask: Is Catalina really the serene island it appears to be or is it brewing a deadly poison?
'The pre-eminent detective novelist of his generation' —Ian Rankin
'Superb crime writing from a master' —The Australian
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
From the razor-sharp mind that brought us Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller comes a new character in police procedurals: Detective Stilwell, who’s been demoted from working homicide in Los Angeles to patrolling a sleepy outpost on nearby Catalina Island. But that newfound quietude is shattered when a body is discovered in the local harbour. All of Michael Connelly’s hallmarks are present in his 40th novel, including clever plotting and curt, snappy dialogue. As Stilwell follows a trail that, at his own risk, leads him ever further into deep-seated corruption, a man who has never played well within the system must now forcibly push back against it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this winning series launch, L.A. noir maestro Connelly (the Harry Bosch series) proves small-town policing can be just as high stakes as crime solving in the big city. L.A. County sheriff's detective Stilwell has been transferred to Santa Catalina Island after running afoul of higher-ups. At first, Stilwell resents being exiled, but he learns there's plenty to keep him busy after the body of a young woman is discovered wrapped in an anchor chain in the island's harbor. Soon, Stilwell discovers the victim was a hostess at the island's exclusive, century-old Black Marlin Club, where a statue was just reported missing. Then there's the illegally decapitated buffalo on the island's nature preserve. Might it all point toward a deeper level of corruption on the island? Though protocol dictates that mainland cops investigate the murder, Stilwell doesn't trust them, and risks further discipline in the name of untangling the mystery. The claustrophobic setting and layered plotting evoke the crime novels of John D. MacDonald, and Stilwell makes for an intriguing hero, with enough biographical gaps for Connelly to sketch him in further in subsequent installments. The author's fans will be thrilled to find him working in a new register.
