Pun Salad

This 2005 novel is the eleventh in Michael Connelly's series with detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. In this one, Harry's back with the LAPD, rehired by a new chief who seems to share Harry's vision of speaking for homicide victims, trying to solve murder cases that everyone else has given up on, and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Harry is partnered with old colleague Kizmin Rider, and their case is reopened when DNA recovered from an old murder weapon is matched to a racist lowlife. The gun was used to kill a lovely young biracial girl back in 1988; the investigation was botched by the cops who initially thought it was a suicide.

But the DNA evidence all by itself is not enough to convict. Trying to come up with a complete picture, Harry and Kizmin re-interview the girl's family, friends, teachers, some of whom were irreparably changed by the crime. To complicate things, Harry's old nemesis, Irvin S. Irving, is rooting for Harry to fail spectacularly.

Kind of slow moving, compared to other of Connelly's books, but still a fine read. (I'd set aside a week to read it, but kept finding excuses to pick it up; finished it in a couple of days.)