I have enjoyed and loved Charles Finchs’ Lenox series since the day I picked up the first one. It would be hard to beat #14, “Extravagant Death.” I thought that to be his very best yet because Lenox was feeling his age, was alone in a different country, and was coming to grips with how his life had changed and how little of it he might have left. It was a tours de force. The inner dialogue was amazing, as if Finch himself were inside Lenox’s life looking out. And so, it would be hard to beat that book. I enjoyed “The Hidden City,” but not as much as the previous book. It seemed slow at times, and while he carefully built subplots around a cousin he must care for and a wife who didn’t agree with him about women’s suffrage, I felt the actual mystery was a bit flat. It concerned a cold case he took on at the behest of his former housekeeper. Mysterious symbols were carved into the doorways of buildings, signs that might have something to do with the killer. I loved the cast of characters he brought back, including some of the younger detectives at his agency, and his good friend Thomas McConnell, about whom Lennox worries. It was a twisty story about Charles Lenox, but I’m afraid it wasn’t Finch’s best. I recommend it, however, and readers will find it an entertaining standalone book. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read the latest Lenox mystery before its publication.

I was looking forward to this newest Michael Connelly mystery, especially since it has new characters. I have enjoyed his Bosch series, both in book form and on the screen, as well as his Ballard series. But this one just didn’t cut it for me because it was more plot-driven, and the pacing was slow at times. The very reason I love Bosch and Ballard books is because we find out so much about what makes them tick, their personal lives, and the people they love. Even when they cross lines, we still cheer for them. And they both have pasts.

“Nightshade” is more plot-driven. We learn that a LA County sheriff’s detective, whose last name is Stilwell, has been banished to Catalina Island, a demotion of sorts. We never ever learn his first name. He ends up investigating two crimes: one is a body weighed down under a ship in the harbor, and the other is about poaching on a protected reserve. Social class is a definite theme in the story when it comes to the investigation. Department politics is another since his old nemesis is waiting to trip him up. There is a subplot involving his romance with Tash Dano.

Overall, I was hoping this might be a discovery of a new detective rivaling Bosch in my affections, but I’m afraid it wasn’t. Again, I thank NetGalley and Brown, Little & Company for allowing me to read this book pre-publication. It is currently launched.