The Last Cyote (Harry Bosch #4)

By Michael Connelly

This must have been the first Connelly novel that started a decade-long obsession with the Harry Bosch character. One of the things that I think makes this novel one of the top five is the emotional depths that we explore of the main protagonist. If Connelly wrote an 'origin story' for Harry Bosch his, surely, is it. This for me is, by far my favourite Harry Bosch novel.

Synopsis

The binder contained the case file on the October 28, 1961, homicide of Marjorie Phillips Lowe. His mother.
Suspended from the LAPD pending psychiatric treatment, his house condemned and his girlfriend long gone, Harry Bosch has time on his hands...
With nothing better to do, Harry opens the ancient file on his prostitute mother's murder and is irresistibly drawn into the shadowy past. Confronting his personal shame at his mother's profession, he discovers a trail leading to the high-ups in the Hollywood Hills and finds that the flames of ancient passion don't die, they kindle fresh fires.

Author 

Michael Connelly began writing for the Los Angeles on the Crime Beat. He turned out his first novel in 1992, Bill Clinton was spotted purchasing Michael’s third novel, Concrete Blonde, in 1994 and he never looked back. 26 novels later and he’s still going. On a personal note, with the title “The wrong side of goodbye” I’m a little nervous about reading the 2016 novel for fear of Harry dying off… no comments giving that away people, I’m hoping to address that demon over Christmas.

Books by the same author

There are so many novels he's written, a full list can be found here. But I'm going to focus on what I consider to be the most significant in terms of Harry Bosch's character development.

The Black Echo (1992)
The Last Coyote (1995)
A Darkness More Than Night (2001)
Nine Dragons (2009)
The Drop (2011)
Switchblade (2014)