Chapter 1. Eleven deaths were attributed to the LA serial killer, dubbed the Dollmaker by the press. The Dollmaker killed prostitutes and others in the skin trade before applying make-up to make them appear as dolls. A hooker spots a cache of makeup in a john’s john, dashes out and calls the cops. Harry Bosch goes with her to the house, fears the john has pulled in another potential victim, kicks down the door to face a naked man, totally shaved who is reaching behind a pillow on the couch. Bosch hollers for the man to freeze, the man doesn’t, so Bosch takes him down. A decent string of circumstantial evidence says the stiff was The Dollmaker. Case closed.
Chapter 2. Fast forward 4 years. The dead man’s widow has brought an unlawful death civil suit against the city and Harry. The plaintiff is represented by the ruthless Honey (aka Money) Chandler with what she thinks is a rock solid case. Not only did Harry’s use of deadly force deprive the family of husband and father, the deceased was not even The Dollmaker.
As Harry fiddles in prep for his trial’s opening, a note surfaces at his station house that bears a frightening resemblance to The Dollmaker and describes the location of a blonde, who is found buried in concrete (and thus the title) with all the markings of said Dollmaker. Did Harry really shoot the wrong man?
What follows is actually two interrelated stories. One is a legal procedural about the lawsuit and the other is the investigation of the new victim as the police try to determine if The Dollmaker really is still out there or if there is what the police are calling The Follower.
A big problem is that the police are absolutely sure Harry killed The Dollmaker. So how would The Follower know so many details that were never released? The person had to have inside information. Harry comes up with a group of three from The Dollmaker case who might be this Follower – a vice cop with extensive connections inside the porn industry, a USC aberrant behavior psychologist who consults with the cops, and the LA Times police reporter who wrote a book about The Dollmaker after the case supposedly closed.
This 1994 book is the 3rd (of 17, so far) Harry Bosch novels. And our boy Harry battles with his and the opposing counsel in and out of court as he finds another pattern in the prior murders that suggests two killers, not one. And then as Harry narrows down the list of suspects. Connelly’s mysteries are far grittier than, say, Robert Crais whose Elvis Cole books are a bit more lighthearted with Cole’s wisecracking PI.
Not so for Bosch, Connelly’s rumpled, beaten down, middle-age homicide cop who carries baggage from his youth and days as a tunnel rat in Vietnam. Most times when I read a novel, I try to picture what actor would play the lead role and honestly, I can’t picture who would play Bosch. Matthew McConaughey is playing Mickey Haller, Connelly’s lawyer alter ego and that works for me. But Bosch? No clue. Sort of like who’d play Jack Reacher? No clue there either. But that’s OK. When I go into withdrawal from no book to read, I know I can always find quality books by picking up one of the many Harry Bosch titles out there. Great stuff.
East Coast Don
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