Interview with Michael Connelly (April 2002)
Author of City of Bones (2002)
April 5, 2002
Michael Connelly, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, is the author of 11 novels. Connelly's books have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Nero, Maltese Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France), and Grand Prix (France) awards. He lives in Florida and California with his wife and daughter.
Q. What made you decide to start writing mysteries?
A. I loved reading mysteries and thrillers growing up but didn't think about actually writing them until I was in college and discovered the work of Raymond Chandler. Something about it transformed me from wanting to read them to wanting to write them.
Q. George Pelecanos (one of our favorite writers) called you "our modern Chandler." We agree that it's a very apt comparison. Your reaction?
A. George is one of my favorite writers, one of the most courageous at work today. We also have a mutual admiration society going and so he does me a solid and then I do him one. So pay no attention to that. It's a nice compliment, obviously, but it probably doesn't hold water.
Chandler and I write about the same place. But where his emphasis was more on evoking a place I hope mine is on evoking character. Chandler's impact on the genre and literature was/is wide. I'm one of the masses. This is not to say I don't think I have talent. I think I do and I think I'm telling good stories. But people are still reading Chandler fifty plus years later. It is hard for me to imagine that happening with any of my stuff. The times are different. Society moves faster and creative efforts are more disposable or time-sensitive. I think my stuff is reflective of the moment but the moment is fleeting.
Q. City of Bones may be the most fully realized Harry Bosch book you've written so far. What does the future hold for him?
A. It's hard to talk about the future without giving up the past. I don't want to give away the moves in City of Bones but suffice it to say that events sort of spin Harry into a new direction and I plan to take full advantage of the challenge it presents to me. I also figure that since Harry is pointed in a new direction, I might as well spin myself a little bit.
I moved 3,000 miles from Los Angeles and I am writing the next Bosch novel--though still obviously set in Los Angeles--in a couple new ways. First, I am writing about contemporary LA from memory and second I am writing this Bosch novel in first person.
Q. Do you have any plans to bring back Cassie Black (heroine of "Void Moon"), perhaps in a Bosch book?
A. I have no definitive plans other than the general plan to bring her back some day. She might be a good character to mix with Bosch. That might be fun. I have thought about it but haven't come up with the story that would do it.
Q. We received an unconfirmed report that you moved back to Florida. If true, do you miss L.A.?
A. That's the 3,000 miles I was talking about before. I miss things about L.A. but I often get to go back whenever I want. I am not leaving L.A. cold turkey and assume that I will be back in a few years. So I feel whatever I am missing will still be there when I get back.
Q. What advice would you give aspiring writers (10 words or less)?
A. Write everyday, even if for only fifteen minutes.
Q. What excites or distresses you about the mystery genre today?
A. I'm excited by the belief that at the moment this genre is the most reflective of our society. If you want to explore pertinent contemporary issues, if you want to see how these issues effect people on an everyday level, then read the mystery genre because that is where you find it first.
Mark my words, the issues surrounding 9/11 and how our world is different now, the debate over the tightening of liberties in exchange for safety, things like that, will turn up in the mystery novels first.
What distresses me just a little bit is that this aspect of the genre is usually overlooked by the critical community that dismisses the genre as purely an area of entertainment stories and puzzle-solving. It absolutely is those two things but it is also more than that.
Q. What are your thoughts about Hollywood adapting your books?
A. Well, I will continue to think it is fun and profitable until I get burned beyond recognition. Put it this way, for a number of years I was making more selling my books to Hollywood than to publishers. So it was money from Hollywood that allowed me to quit my day job and concentrate on my writing, which then in my opinion greatly improved. So no matter what happens with movies, I think and hope I will always look at it as a deal worth making.
Q. What was the last book you read?
A. An unpublished manuscript written by a friend. It was good, but so far no takers from the publishers. The last book I read that is actually out there in the stores is Hell To Pay by George Pelecanos. See, I told you: a mutual admiration society. But seriously it's a very good book and his work inspires me so I read his stuff as soon as it is published, if not before.
Q. What's next for you?
A. I'm writing the first person Bosch account and putting the finishing touches on a book called Chasing the Dime which will be out in October. It is a stand alone thriller that probes the dark side of the internet as well as a character's soul and also branches into a new area for me. It might be considered a techno-thriller because molecular science plays a key role in it.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Interviews | Permalink
