Do your own feelings about the downward trend in newspaper publishing come out in Jack McEvoy’s sentiments?
Michael Connelly: Yes, exactly. I have been out of the journalism business for 14 years but it’s still hard to sit back and watch the implosion of the business. It’s really a shame. I know society moves on to hopefully bigger and better things, but I can’t help but think that this will total out to a net loss. I get a lot of my news from the Internet. I have no complaint there. But a newspaper is like a community tent pole. You can’t remove it without causing some damage. FBI special agent Rachel Walling hooks up again with Jack McEvoy in this novel. Previously, she was romantically involved with McEvoy in The Poet (1996), but later had an affair with another of your creations, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, in Echo Park (2006). From Walling’s perspective, what makes McEvoy a more appealing figure than Bosch? What makes McEvoy the man for Walling, and not my boy Harry? You got me there. You might be seeing the author at work behind the story. I know that for the time being I can’t give Ha
