Here is a sampling of some of the books and authors I discovered this year that might make for an ideal gift during this holiday season.
After ten novels featuring LAPD Homicide Detective Harry Bosch, prolific and acclaimed author Michael Connelly retired Bosch with the plans of creating another protagonist. That is, until Connelly met real-life LAPD homicide detective Rick Jackson who, after 20 years, retired just as the fictional Bosch had. Instead of sailing off into the sunset, however, the real-life Jackson rejoined the LAPD as a cold-case investigator thus, inspiring Connelly to put Bosch back to work. Ever since, Rick Jackson has worked closely with Michael Connelly; lending the Harry Bosch series an unparalleled degree of gritty authenticity.*
Twenty years and dozens of books later, Harry Bosch is alive and well – along with a growing cast of other characters such as Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller, fellow cop Renee Ballard, and journalist Jack McEvoy. The Harry Bosch Universe is replete with intrigue, action, and suspense. The most recent installments are Bosch and Ballard in The Waiting (2024) and the Lincoln Lawyer in The Proving Ground (2025).
(I wrote about Harry Bosch in one of my early pieces for Topanga New Times, Books & Such, Some Friends of Mine, in 2021.** You can also find a complete listing of Michael Connelly books including the Bosch Universe at bookseriesinorder.com.***)
I share all this now because the inspiration for Harry Bosch’s resurrection, LAPD homicide detective Rick Jackson, has recently taken up the pen to tell a true story from his own experience, Black Tunnel White Magic: A Murder, A Detective’s Obsession, and ‘90s Los Angeles at the Brink (2025) co-authored with Matthew McGough.
In 1990, a UCLA student, Ron Baker, was found murdered in Spahn Ranch, an area where Charles Manson and his followers had once lived. Adding to the occult overtones in this one is the late twentieth century Satanic Panic that spread throughout LA and the entire country. Some estimate that more than 12,000 accusations were made that Satan-worshipping pedophiles were abducting children and subjecting them to Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA).****
As the murder investigation drags on, the city is traumatized with widespread rioting following the acquittal of the police officers that had beaten Rodney King. The two primary suspects in the Ron Baker murder are the victim’s roommates, one white and one Black. Racial tensions permeate the city and the murder investigation. LA was a mess but Jackson and his partner Frank Garcia eventually prevailed.
Rick Jackson is a master collaborator. He worked with his partner Frank Garcia to solve the Ron Baker murder, with Michael Connelly to develop one of the most iconic figures in crime fiction, and most recently, with his co-author to produce this fascinating book. And, while co-author Matthew McGough is no cop, he is a hard-edged journalist, author, and researcher who wrote The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation (2019). This looks like a good one, too, so I’m putting it on the list. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
While I await the next Bosch episode, Goodreads.com recommended that I check out Archer Mayor and his creation: Brattleboro, Vermont Police Lieutenant Joe Gunther. This police procedural series was published in 1988 and the most recent in 2022; 33 separate stories in all.
Just like Michael Connelly, Archer Mayor brings real-life experience to his fiction. He has worked as a sheriff’s department detective and a death investigator for the state of Vermont. As Lieutenant Gunther does his thing, Mayor adeptly includes the extensive and fascinating examination of the evolution of gathering forensic evidence. For instance, in Book #4 The Skeleton’s Knee (1992), the remains of a long-buried corpse are discovered. With no DNA testing, Gunther must uncover the identity of the skeleton largely through tracking down the back-story of an artificial knee. With no DNA testing, no internet, and just the early rumblings of readily available cell phones, Gunther relies on experience, instincts, and old-fashioned shoe-leather.
As Gunther’s crime-fighting moves through the 1990s and into the 2000s, we are reminded how dramatically technology has changed all of our lives. These stories are all good fun mysteries with well-crafted surprise endings; although Mayor says he makes it up as he goes along with no master plan from the outset. The characters in these fine books are well-drawn and the small city setting in largely rural Vermont offers a unique backdrop. The series begins with Open Season (1988).
Changing gears from all that crime and murder, I was enthralled with The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by Moshin Hamid which follows the experiences of a Pakistani man in America before and after the 9/11 attacks of 2001. As masked ICE agents terrorize immigrant communities today, Hamid reminds us that this sort of American reactionary hypocrisy has often been jump-started by fear. We preach a good game of liberty and equality before the law for all… someday we might even begin to practice it.
I also discovered historical thriller writer Steve Berry this year. This is another of those extremely popular and well-awarded writers that I have only recently gotten around to; so many books, so little time.
Berry’s first novel is The Amber Room (2003) based upon a true story of treasure stolen by the Nazis during World War II. The Templar Legacy (2006) introduces a recurring character, Cotton Malone, an antique book dealer in Copenhagen. In this first of 20 Cotton Malone books, the twisting tale includes global espionage, a bad guy with a team of assassins at his disposal, and the discovery of ancient manuscripts that have the potential to disrupt the entire world.
Cotton Malone #2, The Alexandria Link (2007), has our intellectually astute and daring hero searching for the massive collection of ancient knowledge once housed in the Library of Alexandria. What he uncovers has the potential to challenge the religious faith of billions of people. These smart and crisply written yet intricately complicated thrillers demand undivided attention. In the end, the effort is rewarded handsomely.
In another non-fiction work, I was intrigued with The Determined Spy: The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner (2025) by Douglas Waller. This is the true story of a World War II to Cold War CIA officer who goes a little crazy.
When We Cease to Understand the World (2020) by Benjamin Labatut (and translated from Spanish by Adrian Nathan West) warns that the Age of Information is revealing knowledge that, for the sake of our psychological health, might be better left unknown.
If you’re just looking for good storytelling and maybe something a bit less cerebral I also enjoyed The Orphanage by the Lake (2024) by Daniel G. Miller who introduces us to the intrepid and exotic Private Eye Hazel Cho. Book #2 in this recently begun series is The Red Letter (2025).
I often grab a “staff selection” from the library. Recommended by Amy was I Need You To Read This: A Novel (2024) by Jessa Maxwell. The unlikely protagonist, at least among the books I tend to read, is advice columnist Dear Constance. In another example of working to overcome my own biases and judgments, I was pleasantly surprised that she turned out to be a fun and quirky character in a delightful little book.
If you didn’t get enough murder mystery from the beginning of this piece, you might want to try a couple thrillers by Mark Billingham. In Rush of Blood (2012), three English couples meet on vacation in Sarasota, Florida and become friends… until the daughter of another vacationer disappears. In Die of Shame (2016), a therapy group for addicts comes unglued after a mysterious death. Both of these books are dark thrillers with disturbing undertones that nonetheless make sound, albeit distressing commentary on the human condition.
Here’s my final reflection. I rarely read books a second time but I do like to pick up an old favorite; and then flip to a random page while hoping to get drawn back into an old story. I recently grabbed The Lincoln Highway (2021) by Amor Towles, opened up to that random page, and after reading just a few lines, decided to read the entire book again. Oh my goodness, what a delight! After finishing, I immediately took up another Towles gem, A Gentleman in Moscow (2016). Amazingly, each of these wonderful stories involves books that get read and re-read. If you’re intrigued, I shared a few thoughts about Amor Towles and both of these books in a Books & Such piece from 2022.*****
Please let me know if any of these make it to your gift list. I absolutely love hearing from you. Happy Dayz! Jimmy.
*Michael Connelly and Rick Jackson relationship from LA Magazine
Books & Such, Some Friends of Mine – June 4, 2021
**https://topanganewtimes.com/2021/06/04/some-friends-of-mine/
***Michael Connelly and the Bosch Universe Book in Order
****Satanic Panic from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic
*****Books & Such, Amor Towles – January 28, 2022
