Michael Connelly to bring city of angels to A

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Angels Flight

Little, Brown, and Company

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When Michael Connelly was a young boy, he religiously read the Hardy Boys series, sparking his life-long interest in mysteries. And though Connelly is famous for his best-selling mystery novels, "Angels Flight" is especially enthralling not only because of its plot twists, but also because of the riotous situation in Los Angeles that is the setting of the book.

Courtesy of Little, Brown and Company Michael Connelly will read tonight at Borders.

Michael Connelly has had eight novels published in the past eight years. He has won an Edgar Award, the Nero Wolfe Prize and the Anthony Award. He started writing his novels after moving from Florida to Los Angeles to be a crime reporter. He still lives there, and all of his novels are set in Los Angeles.

Connelly uses Los Angeles as a character in his novels. In his latest thriller, Harry Bosch, the main detective on the case and the novel's protagonist, "finds good things in Los Angeles even on this dark trail," Connelly said. The author sites one of his inspirations for this novel as the re-opening of Angels Flight, an inclined railway in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

In the story Howard Elias, a lawyer who is famous for his lawsuits against the Los Angeles Police Department about racism and brutality, is found murdered at the foot of Angels Flight. The incident sparks much controversy and riots closely resembling the nationally publicized L.A Riots of 1992.

"The 1992 riots were a source of inspiration," Connelly explained. He covered the riots when he worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

"They indelibly marked me and the book is somewhat of a tribute to that," he said. The riots are also why Los Angeles plays an even more integral role in this novel than for his others.

Connelly's other inspiration, not specifically for this book, but for his writing in general, is the famous mystery writer Raymond Chandler. He continually uses Chandler's books as blueprints for his own mysteries. Connelly cites Chandler's "The Long Goodbye" as the model for his first book, "The Black Echo."

This book introduced Harry Bosch as the perfect LAPD detective and six out of Connelly's eight books have had Bosch as the protagonist. In this particular novel, Harry is notable for his morals, even in the sometimes morally questionable world of Los Angeles crime. The problems he has with his wife make a good side story and give the character depth.

Connelly writes in a simple style that is easy for the masses to follow. More complicated prose would not be appropriate for such a murder mystery story and would serve to take focus away from the plot. But he does include symbolism, the Angels Flight railroad for example, which serves to sophisticate the story.

The story's strengths, like his other books and like all good mysteries, lie in the surprise plot twists that take the reader into S&M parlors, child pornography Websites, and into the corruption dwelling in the police department. And again, Harry Bosch's character is a strength that has worked for five previous books and continues to work in this one.

The book Connelly is working on lately, however, is not a "Harry Bosch novel," as this one introduces itself to be on the front cover. His next book, about a female burglar, differentiates itself from his other books right away in two important ways: There is a female protagonist, and she's a criminal as opposed to being on the right side of the law. But the story still takes place mainly in Los Angeles.

Though his future plans are still in the works, Connelly is in the midst of his tour for "Angels Flight." He offered helpful hints for aspiring writers, like the piece of advice that he received from former teacher Harry Crews: "If you're writing, write every day," he offered. Eight books and three awards later, that is clearly how Connelly became what he is today.

Connelly will read from "Angels Flight" at Borders from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

- Gina Hamadey

01-25-99