Nightshade

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. Agent: Heather Rizzo, Rizzo Literary. (May)