Posted in: Amazon Studios, Books, Pop Culture, TV | Tagged: Bosch, Ironwood, Michael Connelly

Bosch Author Michael Connelly Unites Stilwell, Ballard for "Ironwood"

Bosch author Michael Connelly shared details on Ironwood, with Detective Sergeant Stilwell and Det. Renée Ballard working on the same case.

Bestselling author Michael Connelly is possibly the busiest crime novelist of them all now, overseeing the many Bosch TV series, including the upcoming prequel series on Prime Video, the Ballard TV series, the Bosch & Ballard novels, and his latest creation, Detective Sergeant Stilwell, in the new books set on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. The second book in the new series is coming this spring. Here's a look at the official overview from Connelly's website, which includes some great insight into how the "Bosch" universe comes into play via Det. Renée Ballard.

Sworn to protect a scenic island meant to be far from the evils of the mainland, Detective Sergeant Stilwell can feel danger closing in. Detective Sergeant Stilwell knows that his posting on Catalina Island is no paradise, but to most residents, it seems blissfully separated—by twenty-two miles of ocean—from the troubles of Los Angeles County. But now a threat is coming to his safe haven. Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, Stilwell and his deputies watch a plane land in the middle of the night at the Airport in the Sky, a remote airstrip in the mountains. A duffel bag of drugs is dropped, and the deputies move in, but things quickly go sideways. While Stilwell chases the fleeing pickup man into the mountainside brush, shots are fired on the runway, and the plane flies off.

Detective Stilwell Enters the World of Bosch & Ballard

An internal inquiry follows, putting Stilwell on the bench until he is cleared of responsibility for the disastrous operation. But he is determined to find out who brought deadly violence to his island, and begins his own secret investigation into the drug deal gone wrong. While under orders to remain in the sheriff's substation, he finds in the lost and found a valuable backpack that was never claimed. He traces it to a woman who disappeared while hiking on the island four years ago. But then why was the pack only turned in two months back? Now thoroughly intrigued, he follows the mystery all the way to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit and Detective Renée Ballard.

Stilwell and Ballard work the case from both sides of the channel, and soon realize they are on the trail of a criminal who revels in taunting the authorities. Meanwhile, frustrated at being shut out of an investigation on his own island, Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the department to pursue a case whose reach is wider than he ever imagined.

Ironwood: A Catalina Novel is out on April 19th. But we know you want to hear about the next Harry Bosch novel, and Connelly just announced that one, too, for the Fall.

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