Trunk Music by Michael Connelly is a mystery that looks simple enough until it starts involving the mob and a woman from Harry’s past that might or might not be involved. Trunk Music is the 5th book in the Harry Bosch Series and the 6th book in the Harry Bosch Universe. This story took me a while to get into it, but there’s a twist half way that totally changes the novel for the better and makes it a lot more exciting. I like the mob angle and the lengths the police and the bureaucrats have to go to take them down and Harry Bosch shakes all that up. The climax is super exciting and a lot elements clash together which was a lot of fun. Harry’s personal life was a big part of this book and happy the character made the right choice and didn’t let any of his baggage get in the way. I figured out the final little twist but was still really happy how it was revealed and how it worked for the story. If you’r a fan of the Bosch on Amazon, Trunk Music’s story line is the basis for the Season 2 but changes a lot of the story I liked the book’s story way better than Bosch season 2. Trunk Music was published January 28 1997.

Plot Synopsis: Harry is back on duty after his leave in the last book. Harry is now the lead detective in a 3 man team, he’s back with his old partner Jerry Edgar and a new young detective Kiz Rider. Harry arrives first on the scene to find a body in the truck, Harry chastises the beat cop who touched and opened the trunk without gloves. The whole team feels the murder is mob related and gets the runaround from the division that investigates mob ties. Harry is happy to have his first murder case since returning and ready to solve it. The Body is a famed low budget movie producer. They alert the wife you reported her husband missing from a Las Vegas trip. Things get really interesting when they investigate his office and check the tapes, and find the officer of the mob division earlier at the office. Harry confronts him to reveal that they were watching him but did it illegally and the producer was a money launder for a Las Vegas mob. Bosch travels to Vegas where he runs into a criminal from his past, one he was in love with, and she might be tied to the victim. The novel gets really intriguing from here.

What I Liked: The mob tie in really worked and was interesting what goes into making a case. I liked that we get to see a character return from the first Harry Bosch book The Black Echo someone I did not think we would see again. I liked that we meet Grace Billets as the new captain, she’s such a big part of Bosch, the show, it was nice to see her here. I loved the second half of this book so much and the twist that lead to it. The support characters are really good and pretty memorable. I liked to see both the clash between inner agencies and the respect that is shown when all is revealed. When two characters both think the other is dirty and both try to get the other arrested then come together once they both know the other is not dirty.

What I Disliked: The first part of this book was slow and I didn’t know if this case was going to hold my interest, it did eventually when there is a twist. The chapters were way too long, which was really annoying. The first one ends at 25% of the book. When one Character comes back from the first book it takes the book a little while to remind us just what happened to that character at the end of the first book.

Recommendations: The Bosch series is really good and I recommend reading in order, especially when a character comes back from the first book which is 4 books ago. Trunk Music is a pretty good entry into the series and important for Harry Bosch going forward. I rated Trunk Music by Michael Connelly 3.5 out of 5. I usually hate to give 3.5 but was so torn could not decide between 3 and 4 stars.The order of the Harry Bosch Books so far 1) the Black Echo, 2) The Black Ice, and 3) The Concrete Blonde, 4) The Last Coyote and 5) Trunk Music. The order in which I rank them from best to worst is 1) The Concrete Blonde, 2) The Black Ice, 3) Trunk Music 4)The Last Coyote and 5) The Black Echo.