I'm definitely not finished with Harry Bosch

Crime writer Michael Connelly talks to HANNAH STEPHENSON about introducing a new cop in his 40th book - and more screen adaptations

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Yet Bosch will live on, Michael says confidently. "I've definitely not finished with Bosch. I think we'll probably see him again next year in a book.

The former journalist, who has had to cancel his latest US and England tour because of a medical procedure, is now considering how his 40th book might make the screen and says he's already had some interest regarding adaptation.

Nightshade, a stand-alone thriller, introduces a new detective, County Sheriff Detective Stilwell, who has effectively been put out to pasture on the picturesque Catalina Island off California after a fall-out with a fellow detective on the Los Angeles mainland.

Soon enough, though, he is investigating the death of a young woman who has drowned in the harbour, but comes up against his old LA adversary who is trying to take over the inquiry and hamper Stilwell's investigation.

Michael, 68, favours using less well-known actors, or those you can't put a name to, to play his lead characters in the screen adaptations of his work.

"Sometimes it's just somebody who can lead through example and Titus Welliver (who plays Harry Bosch in both TV series) has the gravitas of a guy who knows how to act well and is like automatic, not having to do a number of takes because he doesn't know his lines."