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Michael ConnellyMichael Connelly

Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing - a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.

After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specialising in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars.

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DESERT STAR NOW AVAILABLE

LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch work together to hunt the killer who is Bosch's 'white whale' - a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.

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Purchase from the Allen & Unwin website

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralisation and endless red tape. Yet after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving 'the Late Show' to rebuild the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.

For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him but that he hasn't been able to crack - the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come work with her as a volunteer investigator in the new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his 'white whale' with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

The two must put aside old resentments to work together again and close in on a dangerous killer. Propulsive and unstoppable, this new novel demonstrates once again why 'Connelly is the real deal' (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review).


NEW COVER OF ANGELS FLIGHT!

Check out the new cover of Angels Flight and enjoy the excerpt below.

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THE DARK HOURS NOW AVAILABLE!

LAPD Detective Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to find justice in this new thriller from #1 bestselling author Michael Connelly.

There's chaos in Hollywood on New Year's Eve. At the end of the countdown, LAPD Detective Renee Ballard seeks shelter from the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revellers shoot their guns into the air. Minutes later, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party. Ballard swiftly concludes that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and connects it with another unsolved murder - a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch. Meanwhile, Ballard still hunts a fiendish pair of serial rapists, the Midnight Men, who have been terrorising women and leaving no trace.

Finding herself up against deadly inertia and foundering morale in a police department ravaged by the pandemic and recent riots, Ballard must look outside to the one detective she can count on: Harry Bosch. But as the two determined detectives join forces, they cannot relax their guard. The brutal predators they track won't hesitate to kill to keep their secrets hidden.

Unfolding with unstoppable drive and nail-biting intrigue, The Dark Hours shows that, 'Relentless on their own, Ballard's and Bosch's combined skills . . . could be combustible' (Los Angeles Times).

'This is unmatched crime writing at its summit.' -The Australian

'Connelly has created heroic and flawed and very real characters who believably find ways to make things right.' -Chicago Sun-Times

'Connelly is the real deal.' -New York Times Book Review

COVER REVEAL!

Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch are back in November 2021!

We are delighted to announce that Michael Connelly's new thriller The Dark Hours will be released on 9 November 2021 in Australia and New Zealand.

Has a killer lain dormant for years only to strike again on New Year's Eve? LAPD Detective Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to find justice for an innocent victim in the new thriller from #1 bestselling author Michael Connelly.

There's chaos in Hollywood on New Year's Eve. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD Detective Renee Ballard seeks shelter at the end of the countdown to wait out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. As reports start to roll in of shattered windshields and other damage, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party.

It doesn't take long for Ballard to determine that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky. Ballard's investigation leads her to look into another unsolved murder-a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch.

Ballard and Bosch team up once again to find out where the old and new cases intersect. All the while they must look over their shoulders. The killer who has stayed undetected for so long knows they are coming after him.

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THE LAW OF INNOCENCE NOW AVAILABLE

The Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller is back in the heart-stopping new thriller from #1 bestselling author Michael Connelly.

When defence attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, the body of a client is discovered in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is charged with murder and can't make the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge.

Haller knows he's been framed and elects to defend himself. But it isn't easy to build a defence from a cell in the Twin Towers Jail in downtown Los Angeles-as an officer of the court he is an instant target.

With the help of a handpicked team, including his half-brother Harry Bosch, Mickey races time to figure out who has plotted to destroy his life and why. And then he must go before a judge and jury to prove his own innocence.

‘Michael Connelly, the unequivocal master of the police procedural, again proves himself the master of the legal thriller, too. Grisham and Turow might do it more often — but nobody does it better.’ Simon McDonald, Potts Point Bookshop

‘This is a supremely intelligent, well-paced courtroom thriller by a modern master.’ Publishers Weekly * Starred Review *

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MURDER BOOK PODCAST SEASON TWO NOW AVAILABLE

Season two of Michael Connelly's true crime podcast, Murder Book is now airing. This season goes behind the headlines and tracks the investigation that uncovered the man the FBI has called the most prolific serial killer in American history, Sam Little. You can listen to the podcast on most podcast apps and at www.MurderBookPodcast.com. Listen to episode one here.


THE LAW OF INNOCENCE

The Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller is back in November 2020!

We are delighted to announce that Michael Connelly's new thriller The Law of Innocence featuring Mickey Haller, will be released on 10 November 2020 in Australia and New Zealand.

Defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is charged with murder and can't make the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge.

Mickey knows he's been framed. Now, with the help of his trusted team, he has to figure out who has plotted to destroy his life and why. Then he has to go before a judge and jury and prove his innocence.

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FAIR WARNING NOW AVAILABLE

Stalwart journalist Jack McEvoy—hero of The Poet and The Scarecrow—tracks a serial killer who has been operating completely under the radar—until now—in this thriller from #1 bestselling author Michael Connelly.

Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realises he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered.

Jack investigates against the warnings of the police and his own editor, walking a thin line between investigation and obsession, and makes a shocking discovery, connecting the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. But then he himself becomes a suspect, and as he races to clear his name, Jack's findings point to a serial killer who uses personal data shared by the victims themselves to select and hunt his targets.

Terrifying and unputdownable, Fair Warning shows once again why ‘Michael Connelly has earned his place in the pantheon of great crime fiction writers’ (Chicago Sun Times).

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‘What separates @Connellybooks from the competition is his interest in the blockbuster moments as much as the cartilage that binds them. He delivers authenticity as well as pulse-pounding suspense.’ Simon McDonald, Potts Point Bookshop

Fair Warning is fast-paced. It’s intriguing rather than twisty but very very addictive. It features clever and contemporary themes and crimes, and I appreciate that Connelly seems to respect the intelligence of his readers, giving us fodder requiring some cogitation.’ Debbish.com

Fair Warning, was truly excellent. Connelly tells an emotional story, with deep and interesting characters, amid an engaging plot about new tech, and a serial killer. …he manages to juggle all these things in such a seemingly effortless way.’ Ben Hobson, author of To Become a Whale (2017) and Snake Island (2019)


25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE POET

The Poet

2020 marks 25 years since the release of Michael Connelly’s bestselling thriller The Poet, featuring crime reporter Jack McEvoy. To celebrate, we are publishing a special anniversary edition on 28 April.

Declared at the time to be 'the best of its kind since The Silence of the Lambs... An unputdownable masterclass in thriller writing', here is what Michael Connelly has to say about The Poet — and the impact it’s had on his career 25 years on... Continue reading here

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COVER REVEAL!

FAIR WARNING: Jack McEvoy returns May 2020

Fair Warning

We are delighted to announce that Michael Connelly's new thriller Fair Warning featuring Jack McEvoy, hero of The Poet and The Scarecrow will be released on 26 May 2020 in Australia and New Zealand.

Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realises he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered.

Read an excerpt

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Bosch season 7

BOSCH Picked Up for Season 7 – The Final Season

Drawing from the novels The Concrete Blonde and The Burning Room, the seventh and final season of Bosch will have Harry Bosch and Jerry Edgar pursuing two separate but perilous murder investigations that will take them to the highest levels of white collar crime and the deadly depths of the street level drug trade. The sixth season of Bosch will premiere later this year on Amazon Prime Video. Look for the seventh season to air in 2021.


The Night FireTHE NIGHT FIRE NOW AVAILABLE

Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective he had an inspiring mentor, John Jack Thompson, who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now John Jack is dead and Harry inherits a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD 20 years before — the unsolved killing of a troubled young man in an alley used for drug deals.

Bosch brings the murder book to Renée Ballard and asks her to help him find what about the case lit Thompson’s fire all those years ago. That will be their starting point.

The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigative team. And they soon arrive at a worrying question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?

The Night Fire’s gritty nightscape and cast of compassionate characters will hook anyone, whether or not they’re already a Connelly fan.’ Apple Books Review

‘Master storyteller Connelly manages to top himself with his latest intensely gripping thriller.’ Library Journal Starred Review

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Listen to Michael being interviewed while on tour in Australia

Booktopia Podcast

Good Reading Podcast

ABC Radio National – The Bookshelf

ABC Radio Melbourne – The Conversation Hour


Michael Connelly touring Australia and New Zealand in November

Tour


BOSCH SEASON FIVE

Fifteen months after bringing his mother’s killer to justice, Bosch finds himself seeking the truth on two fronts. New evidence in an old case leaves everyone wondering whether Bosch planted evidence to convict the wrong guy. And a murder at a Hollywood pharmacy exposes a sophisticated opioid pill mill, sending Bosch down a dark and perilous path in pursuit of the killers.

Premieres on SBS 25 July.

Watch the trailer.


The Night Fire

the night fire

Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch are back in October

We are delighted to announce that Michael Connelly's new thriller The Night Fire will be released on 21 October 2019 in Australia and New Zealand.

Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained him to be a homicide detective.


Murder Book Logo

Murder Book Podcast

Michael Connelly is hosting a new true crime podcast. Murder Book dives into a thirty-year-old Hollywood killing that tests the limits of the American criminal justice system. You can listen to the podcast on most podcast apps and at www.MurderBookPodcast.com. Listen to the trailer here.


BOSCH SIGNED UP FOR SEASON SIX

With filming on season five finished – and due to air later in 2019 – the team were thrilled to hear that they've been signed up for a sixth season.


Dark Sacred Night

dark sacred night now available

Even detectives have a dark side...

At the end of a long, dark night detectives Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch cross paths for the first time.

Detective Renée Ballard works the graveyard shift and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours to find a stranger rifling through old files.

The intruder is none other than retired legendary LAPD detective Harry Bosch, hunting for leads in an unsolved case that has got under his skin.

Ballard escorts him out but – curious to know what he was searching for – soon becomes obsessed by the murder of Daisy Clayton. Was she the first victim of a serial killer who still stalks the streets?

For Bosch, the case is more than personal: it may be all he has left.

But in a city where crime never sleeps, even detectives have a dark side...

'Outstanding, complex police procedural ... Bosch and Ballard, both outsiders with complicated pasts, form a perfect partnership in this high spot of Edgar-winner Connelly's long and distinguished career.' Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'Dark Sacred Night is Connelly in fine form. It’s very rare when the thirty-second book by an author leaves you desperate for the next one, but Connelly delivers every time. The first Ballard & Bosch novel is a multilayered and multifaceted mystery, chock-full of moments of heart-pounding suspense, and a conclusion that rocks Bosch’s world to its core. Hours after I’ve put the book down, I’m still recovering from its reverberations. Michael Connelly — the proven master of the genre — continues to astound.' Simon McDonald, Potts Point Bookshop

'There’s nothing like a new book from Michael Connelly for a full-body immersion in the grimey, lawless underbelly of Los Angeles – that insomniac city that thrives on money, sex, lies and murder. Dark Sacred Night delivers it in spades.

Dark Sacred Night is tight, gritty and mean – even by Bosch standards. In a year that’s packed with brilliant crime this book is going to be an absolute stand out. Michael Connelly is a relentless force. Ben Hunter, Booktopia

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2017 news: a huge connelly year

For Michael Connelly fans, 2017 has seen not one but two new gripping thrillers published. The Late Show, published in July, introduced readers to a young female detective Renée Ballard and is the first in Connelly's critically acclaimed new series. Michael Connelly's second thriller this year is his 20th Bosch novel. Two Kinds of Truth is out now and marks an incredible milestone in the Bosch series.


Two Kinds of TruthTwo Kinds of Truth

Harry Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando police and is called out to a local drug store where a young pharmacist has been murdered. Bosch and the town’s three-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big business world of prescription drug abuse.

Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch’s LAPD days comes back to haunt him when a long-imprisoned killer claims Harry framed him and seems to have new evidence to prove it. Bosch left the LAPD on bad terms, so his former colleagues aren’t keen to protect his reputation. He must fend for himself in clearing his name and keeping a clever killer in prison.

The two unrelated cases wind around each other like strands of barbed wire. Along the way Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truth: the kind that sets you free and the kind that leaves you buried in darkness.

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The Late ShowThe Late Show

Renée Ballard works the night shift at the LAPD in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.

But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night.

As the cases entwine, they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won't give up her job - no matter what the department throws at her.

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The Wrong Side of Goodbye the wrong side of goodbye

New job. Same Bosch.

Don't miss THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE.

'What do you want me to do?' Bosch asked again.

'I want you to find someone for me,' Vance said. 'Someone who might not have ever existed.'

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Bosch: season 3

Based on Michael Connelly's The Black Echo, his very first Bosch novel, and A Darkness More than Night, season 3 steps up the life and death stakes that Bosch faces. It introduces a new world of murder and dirty cops and pits Harry Bosch against two groups of formidable opponents: one intent on framing him for a crime he didn't commit, the other set on killing him. One of the best ongoing detective series that can be watched today, season 3 of Bosch continues to raise the bar another notch and like the books it is based on offers an intelligent and intriguing police procedural.

Watch the season 3 trailer


Bosch returns for a fourth season

Season 4 of Bosch - to be aired in 2018 - promises to be even better than previous seasons. Currently being filmed, Season 4 pulls together plot lines primarily from Angel’s Flight and some carryover story lines from season 3 as well as tying up some loose ends from The Last Coyote.

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Listen to Michael Connelly's update on Season 4:


 

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