New fiction
“Ironwood,” by Michael Connelly. Det. Sgt. Stilwell is still on Catalina Island, and far from the crimes of Los Angeles County. Not to say Catalina Island doesn’t have its share of lawbreakers. Case in point: thanks to a tip, Stilwell and his deputies are watching a plane land on an isolated airstrip in the mountains. What should an easy drug sting – wait for the drugs to be dropped off then arrest the bad guys – quickly goes sideways. Bullets fly, and one deputy is dead and another injured. Benched while an internal investigation is conducted, Stilwell is ordered to remain in the sheriff’s substation, where while poking through the lost and found, he finds a valuable backpack that was never claimed. Stilwell tracks it to a woman who vanished on the island four years ago. However, the bag was only recently handed over to the police. Can Stilwell solve this mystery while staying under his boss’s radar to discover who ratted him out to a drug cartel?