Sunday, December 27, 2009

Michael Connelly, Author Biographies


Michael Connelly was born on July 21, 1956, in Philadelphia and raised from the time he was 11 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He hales from a large family with him being the eldest child.


Michael’s father was a property developer and his mother a homemaker. Michael says his parents encouraged all the children to be successful.


Michael’s mother loved to read, especially mysteries. He read some of her books as a child before he found his own. Michael says he likes the more hardboiled mysteries.


Michael attended the University of Florida where he majored in journalism with a minor in creative writing. It was while there that he came across the works of Raymond Chandler.


Michael married Linda McCaleb in April of 1984. They have a daughter, Callie. Michael says that he feels that since having a child he has become a better writer because he has become a better person.

Michael was a reporter for about 13 years covering the courts and the police beat. He said he considered this research for the time when he started to write fiction.


Michael moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1987, when one of Michael Connelly’s stories was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and caught the attention of the Los Angeles Times. Michael says this was a secret hope of his, “...because the most influential writers of crime novels, to me at least, all wrote about Los Angeles or Southern California. The place has a certain interest for readers.”


In 1995, Michael quit his reporting gig and concentrated full time on his fiction-writing career. He says he prefers crime novels over other genres. He, for instance, does not see himself writing general fiction or science fiction. He writes what he likes to read. You have to write what comes from within.


In 2001, Michael and his family moved from Los Angeles back to Florida to be closer to their families. Although he now has to work from “creative memory,” Michael says he still goes back to visit. Meanwhile, he says he tries to read whatever comes out about LA.


Several years ago at a journalism conference Michael stated, “You scratch a reporter and you find a novelist wannabe...its a natural extension of the job because novels carry a lot of reporting and truth. You have to experience the world to write about it.”




Books by Michael Connelly:


Series:


Harry Bosch:

The Black Echo (1992)

(1993)

The Concrete Blonde (1994)

The Last Coyote (1995)

Trunk Music (1996)

Angel’s Flight (1998)

A Darkness More Than Night (2000)

City of Bones (2002)

Lost Light (2003)

The Narrows (2004)

The Closers (2005)

Echo Park (2006)

The Overlook (2007)

Nine Dragons (2009)


Jack McEvoy :

The Poet (1995)
2009)


Mickey Haller:

The Lincoln Lawyer (2005)

(2008)


Stand Alone Novels:

Blood Work (1998)

Void Moon (1999)

Chasing the Dime (2002)


Non Fiction:

Crime Beat: Stories of Cops and Killers (2006)


Omnibus:

The Harry Bosch Novels: The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde (2000)

The Harry Bosch Novels Volume 2: The Last Coyote/Trunk Music/Angels Flight (2003)

Two Great Novels: The Black Echo, The Black Ice (2004)

The Harry Bosch Novels Volume 3: Darkness More Than Night/City of Bones/Lost Night (2008)


Anthologies Edited:

The Best American Mystery Stories 2003 (2003) (with Otto Penzler)

Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Depression (2005)

The Blues Religion: New Stories About Cops, Criminals, and Chase (2008)

In the Shadow of the Master (2009)


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