The Last Coyote [Hardcover]

Michael Connelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995 | Series: Harry Bosch

Harry Bosch's life is on the edge. His earthquake-damaged home has been condemned. His girlfriend has left him. He's drinking too much. And after attacking his commanding officer, he's even had to turn in his L.A.P.D. detective's badge. Now, suspended indefinitely pending a psychiatric evaluation, he's spending his time investigating an unsolved crime from 1961: the brutal slaying of a prostitute who happened to be his own mother.

Even after three decades, Harry's questions generate heat among L.A.'s top politicos. And as the truth begins to emerge, it becomes more and more apparent that someone wants to keep it buried. Someone very powerful...very cunning...and very deadly.

Edgar Award-winning author Michael Connelly has created a dark, fast-paced suspense thriller that cuts to the core of Harry Bosch's character. Once you start it, there's no turning back.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his fourth outing, LAPD Homicide Detective Harry Bosch (The Concrete Blonde, et al.) confronts deep family, police and political secrets as he probes an unsolved murder of decades earlier. Smart, tough, laconic and, under all that, compassionate, Harry lives by a code according to which "Everybody counts or nobody counts... whether [the victim is] a prostitute or the mayor's wife." He begins this case in a departmental shrink's office, after having been suspended for attacking his commanding officer; his girlfriend has left him, and he's living in a house that's been condemned after an earthquake. In the enforced freedom from his job, he reopens the 30-year-old unsolved murder of an L.A. call girl?his mother. Skirting illegality along the way to the resolution, he unearths a lot of buried secrets and pain?not least to his own 11-year-old self. Nobody here is pure (a couple of people are truly nasty), but all the characters are believable, as are even the quirkier plot turns. Edgar-winner Connelly smoothly mixes Harry's detecting forays with his therapy sessions to dramatize how, sometimes, the biggest mystery is the self. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

After being put on involuntary stress leave for attacking his boss, LAPD detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch tackles the 30-plus-year-old murder case of a Hollywood prostitute?his mother. Bummed out by the failure of his latest romance as well, Harry faces a deeper, psychological crisis: his life's "mission" may end if he solves the case. Harry continues, nonetheless, soon discovering that the police and politically powerful others purposely glossed over his mother's murder. With prose that cuts to the quick, a masterfully interwoven plot, and gripping suspense, Connelly renders a fitting sequel to The Black Echo (LJ 1/92).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 383 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown; 1st edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316153907
• ISBN-13: 978-0316153904
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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 specializing 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. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.

After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles , was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with 18 more novels. His books have been translated into 31 languages and have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Shamus, Dilys, Nero, Barry, Audie, Ridley, Maltese Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France), Grand Prix (France), and Premio Bancarella (Italy) awards.

Michael lives with his family in Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A prostitute's murder-long ago-but it was Harry'mother!, February 28, 1999

By 

Joymarie "Lover of the Written Word" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Coyote (Harry Bosch) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's time in Bosch's life to blow the leaves off his mother's grave, loosen the dirt around it and dig deep for the answers not only to his mother's murder, but to many of his problems resulting from his insecure childhood. This is helped by the fact that he is suspended for pushing a superior through a plate glass window and sent to a police shrink. While he is on forced leave, he decides to resolve these problems, of course, against all company policy. But his view is "Everybody counts or nobody counts." As he unravels the mystery, it seems to him that the murder of his mother didn't count because she was just a woman of the streets. Both this theme and the theme of a reappearing coyote (lost, hungry and bewildered) occur again and again in this gripping, forceful novel. The coyote and Bosch are drawn together - like to like - and it seems to Bosch that both he and the coyote are a vanishing breed. I defy you to put Connelly's book down for more than a few hours, if at all.

He is a master of twists, surprises and impeccable logic that carry you to the end in a whirlwind of pleasure and excitement.This one has a finish that is amazing and shocking.It's content will stay with you a lone time, perhaps forever,as you contemplate this world and those who live in it everyday. I maintain the best way to read Bosch is from the beginning with THE BLACK ICE - and follow in sequence. Michael Connelly has now won three awards for his novels. Everytime I think I have found my favorite another comes along to show me there cannnot be one favorite - only Michael Connelly himself, as a talented and intriguing artist. Angels Flight is the next in the series. His non-Bosch novels, The Poet and Blood Work are other extremely fine examples of his genius.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard-boiled detective fiction lives!, October 30, 2002

By 

Johnny Lee - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Coyote (Harry Bosch) (Mass Market Paperback)

Michael Connelly has dusted off an increasingly rare gemstone in the crown jewels of American literature: the hard-boiled detective. Present in Connelly's pithy and believable prose is all of the wit and grit of Hammett, MacDonald, Stout, and Spillane. What he's brought us in Harry Bosch is a cop's cop. Bosch, an LAPD homicide detective, is a real-life hero for whom the principled drive to see justice done allows him to deal with the treacherous world of Los Angeles politics and some even more treacherous politicians (some of whom masquerade as police officials).

While _The Last Coyote_ is the fourth Bosch novel, the plot and characters are so artfully developed that this novel could stand alone as a complete novel. At the same time, the writing is so compelling and captivating that it is a real pleasure to know that Bosch is a recurring character in Connelly's work. Although this is my first Connelly story, I am officially an addict, and I cannot wait to devour the rest of the titles in the Bosch series.

_The Last Coyote_ opens with Bosch under suspension for assaulting his Commanding Officer, Harvey "98" Pounds. With his newfound freedom comes a mandatory psychiatric evaluation to determine his fitness as a police officer. The ensuing therapy sessions force Bosch to take a hard look at his options, should he later be kicked off the force for the assault on his CO.

Faced with his ever-present personal demons, his suspension, and time on his hands, Bosch begins to investigate perhaps his greatest mystery: the unsolved 1961 murder of his call-girl mother. Though cautioned by his therapist that solving this mystery may remove his motivation to be a detective, Bosch dives into a mystery (and his personal story) that exposes the seedy underside of Los Angeles political corruption. The ride is taut, human, and utterly engrossing, and we are at once deeply satisfied and virtually winded when the dust settles.

My introduction to Harry Bosch was one of those rare joys: a gifted writer spinning a fascinating tale with grace and skill. Perhaps equally enjoyable to me was the principled drive of the protagonist to get at the facts, despite the potential costs-to himself, his career, and his department. Bosch's belief that the truth shall set you free is more than a bromide. While freedom may not always bring redemption, it allows him to sleep at night.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good To The Last Drop!, December 2, 1999

By 

Karen Bierman Hirsh (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Coyote (Harry Bosch) (Mass Market Paperback)

Michael Connelly does not disappoint his faithful with this one. It was a great chance to learn a little bit more about a character that is close to my heart.

During a leave from duty Bosch delves deep into his past to make sense of his mother's murder (and hopefully find the killer).

While the action is quick and the writing is strong what really makes this Connelly book stand out is that we really learn what makes Bosch tick. The title is also great - it has a double meaning, it signifies how Harry sees himself as well as the earthquake ravaged LA neighborhood in which Bosch resides - he has a coyote that visits his hillside home from time to time.

A very enjoyable read.