The Burning Room

In this latest entry in Connelly’s long-running Harry Bosch series, the driven detective, with only a year left before retirement, is assigned a new partner—a rookie named Lucia Soto—whose dedication to the job convinces Harry to become her mentor. Together they take on the cold case of a man who died of a lodged bullet from a gunshot 10 years earlier. But over the course of the investigation Harry discovers a hidden agenda of Lucia’s. Reader Welliver, who stars as Harry in the upcoming TV series, presents the third-person narration in a strong, no-nonsense manner, while catching every obsessive, blunt, impatient, hard-charging, department politics-hating, justice-demanding aspect of Harry’s dialogue and attitude. He distinguishes among side characters through their moods rather than creating unique voices or accents for each. There are disgruntled beat cops, angry captains, aggressive criminals—a cool female coroner here, a sly politician there. For the novel’s other main character, Lucia Soto, Welliver lightens his tone only slightly, adding an affected eagerness that, on occasion, can harden into an iron determination to get the job done. Just the type of partner Bosch can appreciate. [em]A Little, Brown hardcover. (Nov.) [/em]