Trunk Music Harry Michael Connelly

Trunk Music Harry Michael Connelly

Back on the occupation after an involuntary leave of absence, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch is ready for a challenge. But his firstborn case is a little more than he bargained for.


It starts with the body of a Hollywood producer in the trunk of a Rolls-Royce, shot twice in the head at close range – what looks like “trunk music,” a Mafia hit. But the LAPD’s organized crime unit is curiously uninterested, and when Harry follows a trail of gambling debts to Las Vegas, the case abruptly becomes more complex – and much more personal.


A rekindled romance with an old girlfriend opens new perspectives on the murder, and he begins to glimpse a shocking triangle of corruption and collusion. Yanked off the case, Harry himself is soon the one being investigated. But only a bullet may stop Harry when he’s searching for the truth . . .

ReviewLAPD Homicide detective Bosch is back from an involuntary administrative leave just in time for the bodies to begin turning up. When he finds hints of an mob hit but can’t interest the organized crime unit in the murder, Bosch has to take the investigation into his own hands in a this hard-boiled tale full of sharp turns. Fans of Michael Connelly’s excellent, The Poet, will go wild for this even better addition to the Harry Bosch series.

From Publishers WeeklyFrom the opening bars, when the body of Tony Aliso is pulled from the trunk of his Rolls Royce Silver Cloud on Mulholland Drive, to the final grace note on a Hawaiian beach, Connelly has crafted a jazzy, funky, roller coaster of a book. The return of maverick L.A. homicide detective Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch (from 1995′s The Last Coyote) is cause for rejoicing. The Aliso murder quickly embroils Bosch and his new team (Kizmin Rider, a young black female officer on the rise in the department; veteran Jerry Edgar; and their boss, Lieutenant Grace Billets) in a Byzantine tangle of Las Vegas mob money, Hollywood filmmaking and police politics. The plot rushes headlong into deadends and deadfalls, repeatedly reorients and tears off in a new direction. Never known for tact, the single-minded Bosch is soon hotfooting through an acronymic snakepit: the LAPD’s OCID (Organized Crime Investigation Division); the IAD (Internal Affairs Division); the LVPD’s OCU (Las Vegas Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit); the FBI. Not only does each institution assert a piece of the action, but each also wants a piece of Bosch. Connelly has it all working together here: skillful dialogue, solid plotting, subtle differences in meaning or opinion or attitude of race and status and a pace that will leave readers gasping to keep up. Connelly’s early promise (The Black Echo earned him the 1993 Edgar for best basi novel) has been borne out nicely by succeeding novels. Trunk Music is his best yet. $400,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library JournalHomicide dick Harry Bosch investigates the murder of a Hollywood producer in this latest from the author of the Edgar Award-winning The Black Echo (LJ 1/92).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Trunk Music Harry Michael Connelly Picture

Trunk Music Harry Michael Connelly Photo

Trunk Music Harry Michael Connelly Pic

Trunk Music Harry Michael Connelly Pic

Most helpful client reviews

17 of 17 humans found the following review helpful.
Not garden assortment mystery writing…
By Cynthia K. Robertson
Trunk Music is the fifth novel in Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch mystery series, and so far, I have been very impressed with the consistency of Connelly’s writing.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Connelly never disappoints
By A
I’ve read the firstborn five Harry Bosch novels, and have come to regard them as one uninterrupted narrative in the eventful life of an old friend. Trunk Music was one of the better installments, and displays Connelly’s typical mastery of plot development and authentic characterization. I’ve never found any person in this genre whose dialog rings truer, reminding me of a print version of a Steven Bochco show. Trunk Music likewise re-energizes the formula by introducing a good deal of outstanding new characters in fellow cops Kizmin Rider and Grace Billets, and bringing back old flame Eleanor Wish.

Connelly weaves ambitiously intricate mysteries, always with various possible outcomes suggested. At times he seems to overreach, and the ending here feels a little rushed and unsatisfying. It’s not that he leaves loose ends; everything is explained in his chosen scenario, it just seems that something with more outstanding ironic power might have been available in this case. However, as I started out this review, the more of these I read, the less I require them to be stand-alone masterpieces, and the more I plainly relish inhabiting Bosch’s world for a while.

20 of 21 persons found the following review helpful.
Another Strong Effort
By John D. Costanzo
This was another strong crusade from Connelly. Bosch, one of the most interesting and compelling crime stoppers in the genre, is a sort of Dirty Harry with an even darker side. Trunk Music has a strong plot with nice twists and a great deal of surprises. As always, Connelly does a superb occupation at portraying that gray area amongst good guys and bad guys. Once again Bosch is being investigated by IAD, but the telling line of the novel is Bosch’s: “Who polices the police who police the police?” Things wrap up a little too neatly at the end, but other than as supposed or expected I highly commend this book. I rank it a little behind a lot of of Connelly’s earlier novels, but it still stands out amid today’s best crime fiction.

See all 134 client reviews…