Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1956 but moved to Florida when he was twelve years old.
Michael's inspiration to write came from the books of Raymond Chandler and he chose to study journalism with creative writing at the University of Florida. After graduating in 1980 he worked the Crime Beat on newspapers in Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach. Along with two other reporters he was shortlisted for a Pulitzer prize in feature writing for a magazine story about a major airplane crash and its survivors. Following this success, Michael's journalistic career moved up a few levels and he became a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of America's largest newspapers.
His first Harry Bosch novel, 'The Black Echo' was written in 1992 and was partly based on a true story. It won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. So far there are nineteen Harry Bosch books, the nineteenth being 'The Burning Room' which will be published in November.
Michael also has three other book series featuring a Journalist called Jack McAvoy, FBI Agent Terry McCaleb and Lawyer Mickey Haller. Fifty-eight million copies of Connelly's books have been sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine languages. You can see a list of all his books on this Fantastic Fiction website page.
HARRY BOSCH
Connelly's most prolific hero is Harry Bosch and according to www.michaelconnelly.com
Harry Bosch was born in 1950, in Los Angeles to Marjorie Phillips Lowe. He was named Hieronymus Bosch after the 15th century Dutch artist and nicknamed “Harry.” He became an orphan at 11 when his mother, a prostitute, was murdered. He grew up living in a youth hall and foster homes. He joined the army and did two tours in Vietnam. Harry returned to Los Angeles and joined the LAPD in 1972. He became a detective after five years in patrol.
Harry lives in a house very similar to this one on Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hollywood Hills. In one of the books his house is severely damaged and then demolished due to an earthquake. He later rebuilt on top of the pylons that hold it on to the hillside. Can't say I'd feel very safe living in one of these!
Harry has recently been brought to the small screen and is played by Titus Welliver. I know it's very difficult for book fans to agree with the casting of their heroes. I, for instance, was disgusted with the casting of Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross in the films adapted from James Patterson's books. I have not and will not watch these films. Even worse than that was the casting of Tom Cruise (a five foot seven inch slender brunette) to play the part of Jack Reacher (a six foot seven inch 'built like a brick shithouse' blonde) in the film of the same name taken from the books of Lee Child. I am so incensed with this one, that along with not watching the film, I have stopped reading Child's books. So I am pleasantly surprised, at least with the look of Titus Welliver's Bosch.
I may never know whether he is a good Bosch as so far it seems that the ten episode first series will only be available on Amazon Prime. Never mind, I'm sure the books will still be better.
So, Michael Connelly is definitely one of my favourite authors and if you love a good read I highly recommend him.
Tracey x
I agree - Michael Connelly is a good one, haven't read any of his for a while.
ReplyDeleteT xx