WHO ELSE COULD GUIDE YOU THROUGH MODERN LA BUT HIERONYMUS BOSCH?:

Don't Overlook This One (OTTO PENZLER, June 6, 2007, NY Sun)

Is there a character in contemporary crime fiction whose exploits are anticipated more eagerly by sophisticated readers than Hieronymus Bosch, the principled, caring, and competent cop in Michael Connelly's outstanding series?

Equal parts Philip Marlowe, Lew Archer, and "Dirty" Harry Callahan, with some of the author's own personality thrown in, Harry Bosch has already ensconced himself in the pantheon of the greatest fictional detectives of all time.

While many of us have our idiosyncratic favorites, and while some authors produce one or two excellent novels with an ongoing character, I can think of only a handful of crime fighters whose adventures are as consistently compelling as Bosch — and none better.

The first is especially good, but it's nice that he's still going strong.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 6, 2007 12:00 AM