michedea_books_ 's review for:

Nightshade by Michael Connelly

5.0

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Nightshade by Michael Connelly is book 1 in a Detective Stilwell series and I confess the first book from the author that I have read. 

Set on the island of Catalina of the coast of Southern California L.A Sheriff Silwell has been transferred to the island after and incident on the mainland where he was booted of a case.  Catalina is where members of the Police force have done wrong but not so much to be booted off the force.  But although Stilwell has been sent there. He Likes the different way of life on the island and its different pace. 

But when Stilwell gets a call that a female body has been found with a purple streak in her hair and the signs that she has been murdered. Stilwell old instincts kick in at full force to find the find the killer. But his colleagues on the mainland are not too happy about it and thinks Stilwell should stand down and they deal with it. But he knows if he does that. They will do anything they can to close the case down quickly and discover what really happed to the body in the water. 

This is my first outing of Micheal Connelly’ s work and you can tell by the quality of his writing how well established he is.  I really enjoyed this, with this great well-paced storyline, with its multiple avenues but come together in the end.  Stilwell is such a likable character as you keep reading you want to route for. And with a bit of romance thrown in it was such a delightful story. I can’t wait for more of this series and will no doubt go back and read previous novels from ths author. 5 stars from me.