The woman in the concrete

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The woman in the concrete (English: The Concrete Blond) is the third novel by the American crime novelist Michael Connelly . It is the third book in the Harry Bosch series, published in 1994, in German in 1997.

action

Harry Bosch is on trial. Four years ago, Bosch shot and killed a serial killer, "The Dollmaker" Norman Church. A prostitute had narrowly escaped Church and led Bosch to a garage. Bosch broke open the door and pointed his pistol at Church. Church reached under a pillow and Bosch thought he was going to grab a gun. Bosch shot Church, who was fatally injured. However, there was no weapon under the pillow, but the toupee of the "doll maker".

Church's widow is suing Bosch in civil suit. She is represented by human rights attorney Honey Chandler. Chandler manages to cast doubts as to whether Norman Church was actually the "doll maker".

On the first day of the trial, the police received a clue about a murder victim, the dead woman in the concrete. They find the dead woman and she has the characteristics of the “doll maker”: grotesque make-up and a small white cross on her toe. It looks like the current tip was from the "doll maker" that Norman Church couldn't have been the serial killer. Chandler can also prove that Church had an alibi at the time of the last of the murders.

Did Bosch shoot an innocent man? He himself has no doubt that Church was the "doll maker" - so there must be a second serial killer. The hunt begins while Bosch's position in court continues to deteriorate.

Harry Bosch can find out the identity of the dead. It is the porn actress Rebecca Kaminski, who appeared under the name "Magna Cum Loudly". He goes through all the investigation files again, a total of 12 sex murders; 11, which were assigned to the "Dollmaker" and the new case. He notices something that he had missed four years ago in the investigation: a pattern. Cases seven and eleven have features that they have in common with the current case and that distinguish them from the other cases. Harry Bosch suspects that there was a copycat who started these three murders. And: this second perpetrator must have internal information from the police, because some features of the murder had been kept secret from the public. Could the second perpetrator be from the ranks of the police?

Bosch suspects Raymond “Ray” Mora of the moral department of being the copycat perpetrator and ensures that Mora is shadowed. The shading team sees that Mora is going into a cinema and notifies Bosch. Bosch breaks into Mora's house and searches it. He discovers professional video equipment and a recording showing Mora having sex with minors with a boy and a girl. So Mora is not the copycat offender. Mora noticed the surveillance and escaped from the cinema. He surprises Bosch and tries to kill him. But Bosch can overwhelm him. Since the search was illegal, it cannot be used against Mora in court. Bosch and his colleagues force Mora to quit the police force.

The next day the verdict is announced: Bosch is found guilty of violating Norman Church's rights on two counts. But the jury only obliges the LAPD to pay one dollar in damages. Oddly enough, the prosecution attorney, Honey Chandler, did not show up for the verdict. Bosch receives a new letter from the perpetrator bragging about another murder. Bosch is deeply shocked because he thinks that his girlfriend Sylvia Moore is the victim. In fact, the lawyer is the victim, because she too had a letter from the perpetrator, on whose postmark Bosch stated that it contained information that the journalist Joel Bremmer of the LA Times had published only days later. Now Bosch knows who the copycat perpetrator is: Joel Bremer, who had processed insider knowledge about the "Dollmaker" case into a book and has good contacts with police circles. In a daring solo action, Bosch succeeds in overpowering Bremmer in his house and coaxing a confession from him.

Cross references

Sylvia Moore is the former wife of the police officer Calexico Moore, a main character in the previous novel Black Ice Cream .

reception

Publishers Weekly describes the plot as "a devilishly put together combination of court drama and police novel". Kirkus Reviews similarly sums up: Connelly's third novel “skilfully mixes cop thriller and court drama in a dark, poignant story structured around a series of gruesome serial murders” and awards the novel the distinction of being a “jewel”. The Los Angeles Times closes its review of the novel with the characterization: "Connelly joins the top group of a new generation of crime writers."

The Krimicouch is not quite as euphoric in its assessment of the novel as the American reviewers: “A well-made mixture of court thriller and cop crime thriller that doesn't always know how to convince. A plot based on a well-known knitting pattern that rarely reaches the highest level of tension. "

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Publishers Weekly Fiction Book Review: the Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
  2. ↑ Kirkus Reviews: The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
  3. ^ Charles Champlin: Criminal Pursuits , in: LA Times, July 10, 1994
  4. ↑ Peter Krümmel: Die Frau im Beton Krimi couch.de, May 2003