I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This is the first in a new series from master storyteller Michael Connelly. Instead of the gritty Los Angeles streets of Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard, this novel takes the reader to the near-idyllic Catalina Island, off the coast of LA. The island does not permit cars and people travel in golf carts and boats – from small Zodiacs to giant yachts.

Detective Stilwell, known as Stil to his friends and enemies, has been exiled from the homicide squad to the relative calm of Catalina. However, not all is quiet and Stil is quickly drawn into two serious cases, much to the chagrin of his superiors on the mainland.

I very much enjoyed this mystery and look forward to others in this series.

🤍Book review 🤍

Nightshade
by Michael Connelly



Michael Connelly has done it again and this time with a brand new character and setting that had me hooked from page one.
Nightshade introduces Detective Stilwell, a gritty, flawed cop with a moral compass that never wavers, even when he’s pushed to the margins of the department.
The story opens with a mysterious body found in the harbor and quickly spirals into a layered web of murder, corruption, and hidden island secrets. The pacing was excellent, with multiple storylines that all tied together in the most satisfying way.
Connelly blends sharp procedural writing with atmospheric scenes and complex characters. Stilwell, like Bosch and Ballard before him, is another great addition to Connelly’s world
The second-chance romance was a nice touch too, adding emotional weight without overshadowing the mystery.
This one had everything I love: secrets, suspense, a richly detailed setting, and a protagonist worth rooting for.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy through NetGalley, opinions are my own

Connelly has done it again! A new investigating detective stationed on Catalina Island off the coast of California. The setting may be different, but the action and intrigue are the same. Lots of local color descriptions as usual. A side story about his romance with a fellow office worker complicates matters as well. Looking forward to more in this new series.

Thank you Little, Brown and Company for the ARC!

Nightshade by Michael Connelly ended up being just the read I needed! It was intriguing, has excellent plot twists and turns along the way, and the characters were interesting and well developed. What I liked most about this book was that even though it’s mysterious and dark, there’s great humor to keep it from being heavy. Excellent writing!

I am definitely a loyal Michael Connelly fan. Nightshade is very much a book in the Ballard and Bosch mode with the added pleasure of being set on Catalina Island.
Connelly’s writing is, as usual, A+. The opening chapter was a little slow, but after that it was a quick read in a pretty generic style. I think I only highlighted one sentence for rich language, but if you love a police procedural, as I do, it was a couple of days of watching the very competent investigators put the clues together.
Connelly’s strength is also his weakness. The characters are pretty much interchangeable from one series to another, with very little charisma.
The story builds to a peak about 72% in and the action lasts for a few chapters, then the story reverts back to a methodical narrative and conclusion.
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you want a diversion from the rest of your life. I’m not sure I would pay full price for it, but if you can get it from the library, I’d say, Go for it.

The start of a new series. I must admit I was disappointed at first to realize there would be no Ballard or Bosch and it took me a bit to know that Stilwell was a fine new lead character. Once into the story, I was completely into wanting to know the who’s and why’s. Liked the people and the novel tied things up well. Definitely looking forward to the second Stilwell book.

I love all Michael Connelly books and this is no exception. I was excited to start a new series. Nightshade introduces us to a new character Detective Stillwell. He has been demoted to Catalina Island and it isn’t long before there is a dead body. Looking forward to the next book.

A relatively straight forward murder mystery introducing a new character away from the world of Bosch & Ballard. As pedestrian as the last few Bosch books before this were, they are still better than this one.

Another Michael Connelly book, another somewhat defective hero who has pissed people off.
This book is probably the first of a series staring Detective Stilwell who places Catalina Island off the coast of LA.
It was a demotion but he has fallen in love and is happy to stay on the island forever..
In his usual straightforward writing manner, Connelly gives us a murder victim with such a shady past any number of people could have done her in.
He chases down every lead while we the reader get to know Catalina, the people he works with, and the detectives in LA he has made
enemies with.
This is good Michael Connelly--not Harry Bosch but how can you top that? I enjoyed the book and hope to read more in this series.

Following up his dozens of critically acclaimed mysteries and thrillers, Michael Connelly has written what is sure to be another best-seller with a new setting, a new central character and hopefully a new series. Connelly’s new protagonist provides what his readers and critics always want more of – a case-hardened agent of the law, flawed but possessing a strong moral compass, inspired by a unique backstory, and determined to speak for the victims even if it means challenging the system. Still technically working for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department, Detective Stillwell has been demoted due to protocol infractions to Catalina, a place he describes as “the island of Misfit Toys.” A majority of the land is a nature conservancy, and most of the island’s 4,000 people are well-meaning types wishing to maintain a simple lifestyle or seeking success in a less high-pressured environment. A small group of boaters with glittery sailboats and yachts dock on weekends or holidays at a private marina club, but they primarily stay onboard their vessels and do not mingle with the locals. In some ways, Catalina seems a small charming village, where folks know each other, their families, businesses and behaviors, but darkness lurks below the surface. The island also attracts scoundrels and scammers who come in order to move around without notice in a place where golfcarts are the primary transportation, and no drivers’ licenses or IDs are required. When a female body is found in the harbor weighted down with an anchor, Stilwell is determined to seek justice for her murder, even though acquaintances suggest she got what she deserved in her quest to ensnare someone rich. Connelly sets Stilwell on a thrill-ride against the clock in defiance of orders, and against the naivete of the locals and the arrogance of the powerful.

Thank you to Net Galley and Little, Brown and Company for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Michael Connelly is one of my favorites, always a sure thing and a go to author. I've loved all his character series- Harry Bosch, Lincoln Lawyer, Renee Ballard, and now I can add Stilwell to my collection! Fast paced and lots going on as always, a couple different story lines keep the pages turning. This setting is Catalina Island- an island for the rich, catered to by those who are not, and need to work for a living. I loved the setting and the scenery, I also loved the vision of all the money, but set realistically by those who still need to work. The villians are complicated, as well as the "good guys" who are bad, and the reasons for the people on the force on the island. Liked the new characters and the story line. I was also delighted with the Easter Egg from a Renee Ballard book. You wouldn't miss out on anything if you didn't know, but if you did, a little smile.

Thanks, I was thrilled to receive an advanced digital copy from NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company and get a jump start on the buzz for Michael Connelly's new book. The buzz is well deserved. I will look forward to the next in the series!

Nightshade by Michael Connelly is a very highly recommended police procedural/thriller. This marks the start of a new series from Connelly.

Due to infighting and office politics, L.A. County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been transferred from homicide to policing Santa Catalina Island. He has come to enjoy Catalina. The first case he has is serving a search warrant in the investigation of an illegally decapitated buffalo on the island’s nature preserve. Then he is contacted when a hull scraper reports a body in a bag weighed down by an anchor chain in the harbor. Stilwell dives down to confirm the claim and immediately determines that the body has been in the water for days and it is a woman with a purple streak in her hair.

The mainland team takes over the murder investigation but Stilwell knows the detective assigned to the case, Rex Ahearn, is an incompetent investigator. He actually then has a tie-in to the homicide case when the exclusive, century-old Black Marlin Club reports the theft of a black jade marlin sculpture. The manager of the club thinks a waitress he fired may have stolen it. When looking into the theft Stilwell finds out she had a purple steak in her hair. This gives him a reason to actually investigate the murder.

This is a well-written, intricately plotted, and action-packed investigative procedural. The murder is the central investigation but at the same time there are several other cases, secrets, and corruption involved. Further complicating matters is that Stilwell doesn't trust the mainland detectives to do a thorough investigation. The clues and discoveries continue to be exposed at a fast and furious pace while the danger increases along with the complexity.

Stilwell is a well-developed character with strengths and flaws. He is tenacious, intelligent, methodical, and has great investigative instincts. Connelly has left plenty of room for further character development in future installments of the series. That would include the character of Tash, a woman who is the assistant harbor master and in a relationship with Stilwell.

Nightshade is a great choice for anyone who enjoys complex police procedurals. Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Nightshade
by Michael Connelly
Pub Date: May 20, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Introducing Detective Stilwell: a cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.
It’s been a while since Connelly launched a brand-new character and series, and fans of his work know he excels at creating compelling, multi-dimensional characters and Sergeant Stilwell is no exception. Much like Detective Bosch, Stilwell operates by a strict personal code that compels him to push his investigations beyond the ordinary. The island setting is key, too: the physical distance between Stilwell and his superiors not only emphasizes his isolation but also ramps up the tension, keeping readers on edge.
One of the reasons why I love Connelly so much is that he continues to surprise me. Book after book I never quite have the solve pinned down and Nightshade is no exception. Like his detectives and their cases, the story unfolds unpredictably, and if you’re anything like me, you won’t want to put the book down until you’ve unraveled every twist.

Wow! Connelly has created another winning character, LA County Sheriff Detective Stillwell. We don't know yet as much about him as we do about Bosch, Haller and Ballard but we know enough to want to know more and read the next book in the series. The setting, rustic Catalina Island, is very different from the LA settings of the other characters, but, it is refreshing to be in another area. Yes, as always, there is a fast moving plot with realistic dialogue. I can't wait for the next in the series.

Michael Connelly does it again. As a big fan of his Harry Bosch, Renee Ballard, and The Lincoln Lawyer series, I was excited to read this new series by Michael Connelly. Set in beautiful Coronado Island, with the type of ostracized, rule breaking protagonist he is famous for, this is a fast paced, action packed, police procedural series. It grabbed me from the get go and I couldn't put it down. I literally read it in one day. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an advanced reader copy.

Connelly introduces us to an awesome new police detective hero Harry Stilwell, who much like Harry Bosch, gets himself in frequent trouble with the upper brass in pursuing justice but stands resolute in his quest for the truth.

Harry Stilwell has been transferred as punishment by his superiors to Santa Catalina Island off the coast from L.A.- an outpost to which the L.A. County Sheriff’s department exiles political troublemakers. In Harry’s case, in L.A. he continued to pursue and expose the true murderer in a murder involving police corruption after his superior deemed the case closed based on a conveniently blamed, but innocent suspect. And even with his department exile, Harry holds true to the high moral principles that drive his work.

Harry has actually overcome his exile resentment and come to love working in Catalina, partially due to interesting criminal cases unfolding and mostly his budding romance with Tash, a deputy in charge of the island’s harbor operations. Harry finds himself with two new cases on his hands, first with the felonious decapitating of a buffalo on Catalina’s nature preserve and then with the dead body of a young woman that gotten twisted in the chain of an anchor in the harbor.

Harry focuses on the murder investigation and the exclusive wealthy boat club where the missing woman worked, only to find the case swept out from under him and handed to a mainland team of police investigators to handle. This team includes the lazy and hostile investigator who got Harry exiled to Catalina to the first place. Harry doesn’t trust the team for good reason, and continues to pursue island-based leads that ultimately lead him to mainland based suspects. Harry risks even further disciplinary action by refusing to stop investigating, when the mainland ignores what really was going on and how an island-based crime boss may be in the thick of things.

Like the launch of Harry Bosch, hopefully we can eagerly anticipate many more Harry Stilwell adventures, where we learn more about his back story, root for his relationship with Tash and him staying on Catalina, and get him stubbornly holding out for justice in the cases that come his way and in his political power struggles with the mainland politicos in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company as well as NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

I've been a big fan of this author for quite some time (just for grins, I counted reviews of those I've posted since I started my book blog in 2013, and there are 13 in there). So getting the chance to sample the first in a new series put a smile on my face for days. Now that I've finished reading, the smile is still there and I'm looking forward to the next installment, but I have to say I'll need more time to really warm up to the new guy in town - if for no other reason than I just can't trust anyone who apparently doesn't have a first name (or maybe that's a plot hook reminiscent of Leroy Jethro Gibbs).

Actually, Stilwell is on an island - Catalina Island, to be exact. Once a detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, he irritated the powers-that-be there enough that they deported him to the island where all the department misfits go - a place where they figured he couldn't get in much trouble (and if he did, it wouldn't be their problem).

To kick things off, he responds to a report of a female body that's been found at the bottom of the harbor; she's in pretty bad shape and is devoid of any identification except for the purple streak in her hair. At the same time, a buffalo turns up in even worse shape at a local preserve - the victim, presumably, of a poacher. Immediately, Stilwell takes charge of both investigations (with a bit more emphasis on the human victim, understandably). And in short order, he runs afoul of some of his former LA colleagues who now would like nothing better than to kick him to the curb. If that weren't enough, the investigation leads right through the doors of an exclusive men's club on the island - and wealthy, snooty males don't take kindly to having their domain invaded by common folks like the police.

The rest of the book is focused on the two investigations, both of which have the potential to end Stilwell's career (if not his life) as well as fleshing out his character and that of several key characters I assume will play central roles in future books. The plot held my attention - as have those of every other book I've read by this author - so I'll definitely be watching for the next one. Meantime, thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to get in at the beginning.

This is a new series for Connelly with all new characters. Officer Stilwell is a new Sheriff in Catalina. He has been sent there by the Chief in LA as a demotion. It wasn't clear to me why. He's working on a case of someone who has killed a buffalo, and Stilwell's main suspect is a very tough character. Stilwell has found a partner in Tash, a woman who is the assistant harbour master. She calls him to tell him that a human body has been found under a ship wrapped in an anchor chain. The two cases become somewhat complicated, as Stilwell needs to work with some former colleagues in LA, even though they don't appear to like him. They soon find that a woman who had worked at the Black Marlin Club (a very posh fishing club) was fired and she seems to have disappeared and to have taken a very special statue that belonged to the club. Stilwell manages to get the body out of the water and discovers she is the fired woman. Then, he has to find how she got where she was found, who killed her, and where she was dumped. Stilwell works very hard to to solve the two cases, and he appears pretty competent to me in spite of former colleagues who don't want him to succeed. It gets very exciting near the end!

This looks like a the beginning of a great new series. I thank Netgalley and Little Brown Publishers for the ARC so that I could read the book before publication.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department placed Detective Stilwell on lovely Catalina`due to his 'response' to departmental politics. It is an out-of-the-way assignment but one he comes to appreciate. Stilwell investigates the mutilation of a protected animal, the discovery of a body, wrapped and weighted, in the harbor and the theft of a stature from the local ritzy private club. The investigation of the body is handed off to the homicide division on the mainland. Stilwell finds it hard to let the case alone - for it is assigned to one of the idiot detectives from his past. Following leads on the island is how he best serves all these investigations. Can he help it if some of his questions lead him back to the mainland? Dangerous people have few limits when it comes to protecting themselves and their profits. Stilwell finds that out the hard way.
Murder, corruption, blackmail, conspiracy and a touch of romance - are all in a day's work for Stilwell.
Nightshade is the first in a new series and offers interesting twists to keep the reader engaged.
Thanks to Little, Brown and Company, Michael Connelly and NetGalley for this ARC.

Nightshade is the new novel from Michael Connelly, and introduces Stil (aka Detective Stilwell) in what will undoubtedly be the start of a new series.

Stil has been sent to Catalina Island after having a dust up with a murder case in LA. Content with his new duties in patrolling the island, things change when the body of a woman is found in the water at a boat dock. Stil starts to investigate, and the story takes off from there.

While I have really enjoyed many of Mr. Connelly’s previous books, Nightshade did nothing for me. I found the novel to be uninvolving and tedious to read, with poorly developed characters and, at times, awful dialogue. The plot was totally predictable. To be honest, I don’t understand why the book is getting all those five star reviews.

My thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of Nightshade.