Bosch, having retired, is tempted back to work for the police department again, this time concentrating on "cold cases" - unsolved crimes that may be able to benefit from investigation using techniques that hadn't been available at the time.

Having just finished Angels Flight, which followed directly on from Trunk Music, it was interesting to read this one, which takes place about ten years later. I suppose there may be other books in between: Harry has a daughter now, and has separated from his wife.

Pretty good story: Harry is given a case which has been revived as a result of a DNA match being made with a sample taken from a the weapon used to commit a murder seventeen years previously. Now they can tell who the DNA came from, it ought to be straightforward to get a murder conviction. But needless to say, it turns out not to be so simple. The suspect has a cast-iron alibi for the time of the murder, so he can't have done it. So Harry and Rider have to concentrate on building up a picture of what happened in the investigation, which means re-interviewing the family and friends of the schoolgirl who was abducted and murdered.

Another decent read, and seems like this might be a good sinecure for Harry (and Connelly) - I don't know, but would guess that there could be any number of cases like this that could occupy future books.

Completed : 18-May-2008