Nightshade

Sheriff's Detective Stilwell is a welcome addition to the Harry Bosch School of Policing. A former sheriff's dive team member, he's a good fit for the quieter pace of Catalina Island in Michael Connelly's Nightshade.

A new addition to the Connelly canon calls for a new setting, and I really enjoyed getting to know Catalina Island, which-- in Stilwell's world-- is known as "the Island of Misfit Toys" because police officers with blotches on their records are sent there if they can't be fired outright. Naturally, boating plays a big part in life on the island. Stilwell has gotten to know his fellow officers, their strengths and weaknesses, and he's in a relationship with a woman who's always lived on Catalina. Her very different show more perspective means that they don't always see eye-to-eye.

The investigations are what we've come to expect from Michael Connelly-- intriguing, engrossing, and filled with interesting factoids (like Prada's RFI chips). I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about Stilwell in the next book. Bring it on!

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less

Sergeant Stilwell, LAPD, posted to Catalina Island investigates a body found in the harbour and finds himself in conflict with former colleagues and local powerful figures. Great plot and characters which could have featured in a Harry Bosch story.

Sheriffs on Catalina Island
A review of the Little, Brown and Company audiobook (May 20, 2025) narrated by [author:Will Damron|6105327] and released simultaneously with the Little, Brown and Company hardcover/eBook.

I knew absolutely nothing about Santa Catalina Island before reading this book, so discovering there is an island off the coast of Los Angeles, California that doesn't allow cars, has only 4,000+ inhabitants, is mostly a nature preserve and even has a herd of buffalo on it was rather a fun discovery. That the island is policed by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department using golf carts (the main transport for everyone) does raise some humorous expectations.

Things however turn much more serious when a dead body turns up leading to show more an investigation of a statue theft at the local yacht club. Meanwhile there is a bizarre decapitation of a buffalo (a protected species) to deal with. LASD Detective Stilwell is on the case and persists in pursuing it when rivals from Overtown (the locals' name for Los Angeles) try to enforce their jurisdiction.

This was fine as a police procedural in a rather unique location, but it didn't quite spark the same sort of engagement that a Harry Bosch or Mickey Haller novel would have done. I suppose that is because I have been invested in those Connelly characters from the very beginning and have had that enhanced by the recent TV adaptations of both. Stilwell seems a rather bland character in comparison even if he has the rebellious, anti-authoritarian, independent streak of all of Connelly's protagonists.

The narration by Will Damron was fine in all voices.

Other Reviews
Rather than look for reviews from various crime & mystery critics, I chanced on a review from a local Catalina Island perspective which you can read at Michael Connelly's novel Nightshade mostly gets Avalon right by Paul Birchall, Avalon Public Library, May 23, 2025, The Catalina Islander.

Trivia and Links
Learn more about Catalina Island at Wikipedia or at 12 Facts about Catalina Island that will surprise you. show less

I'm a fan of Michael Connelly, from Bosch to Haller to Ballard and everything in-between. But I won't be reading any more books in this series. Stilwell is not a character I find admirable. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say he does something in this book that I find unacceptable no matter the motivation. There are always moral gray areas. This was black and white to me.

One of the many pleasures of LibraryThing is the ability to search within one's own list. So, I was gratified to see I have read 27 of Michael Connelly's 40 novels.

That said, this one is far from the best. The characters, at their initial introduction to us at least, are not engaging, and their backstory simply isn't all that interesting. The mystery was far too easy for this reader to solve, so the twist near the end was more of a foregone conclusion. The whole story simply seemed phoned in.

I've been to Catalina, and his descriptions are solid. He clearly spent a good amount of time there researching this novel, and I would welcome another novel set there. Just not with Stillwell. Please.

After 40 books, Mr. Connelly is entitled to the show more occasional dud. This is it. show less

I went into Nightshade hoping for either an intriguing mystery or a page-turning thriller. I like Connelly’s Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer books, and I was hoping for more of that same spark. Instead, what I found was a decently written story with very little to get excited about.

I read the whole thing, which is a win, but honestly, I was bored and ready to move on. The writing itself is solid enough, but the pacing was slow and the twists were predictable. Every “reveal” was something I’d already guessed, which made the whole experience feel more like mystery-by-numbers than a book that kept me on my toes.

The characters didn’t help much either. None of them were particularly engaging, and his love interest just came across as show more jealous and whiny. There’s also a near-rape scene that felt completely unnecessary and did nothing to improve the story. The most memorable detail ended up being the dead woman’s purple-streaked hair, but that was mostly because Connelly repeated it so often it became impossible to forget.

Other reviewers have said this book feels like a rough first draft or maybe even an outline for a TV series, and I’d agree with that. The plot, characters, and atmosphere all had an unfinished feel. Catalina Island could have been a vivid character in its own right, but instead it was just another underdeveloped backdrop.

That being said, I can’t deny that Connelly can write. Even when I wasn’t gripped, the book was easy to read, and there’s something to be said for that.

I’m not swearing off Connelly, but I’m also not going to rush into another one of his books anytime soon. I’ll probably pick him up again eventually, but if Nightshade is any indication, his newer releases might not be where the excitement is hiding. show less

Detective Stilwell works on Catalina Island, a demotion of sorts from his previous position as a homicide detective. It seems he works too hard and is too thorough for some of his peers. When a woman’s body is found tangled up underwater, a fellow detective is eager to solve the case, even if it means the real killer goes free. Stilwell believes it is tied into a case of a beheaded bison. He puts his own job in jeopardy to properly investigate the cases. First in a series, this thriller is captivating and suspenseful. Stilwell is a complex character, ready to bend a few rules to get justice for the murdered woman. The plot is intriguing, and the writing is superb.