The Concrete Blonde /

The Concrete Blonde is the third novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. Connelly said that he obtained the seed idea for The Concrete Blonde by reading a book detailing actual cases, written for forensic professionals. Detective Harry Bosch is pursuing "the Dollmaker", a serial killer who uses makeup to paint his victims. He gets a tip from a prostitute that a recent customer of hers, Norman Church, had a large amount of women's makeup in his bathroom. Bosch goes to Church's garage, identifies himself as police, breaks in the door. Church is naked and shaved. Bosch tells him to not move, but Church starts to pull something from under his pillow, and Bosch shoots him. Bosch is investigated by internal affairs and cleared in the shooting; but, since he did not follow police procedure, he is transferred from the elite Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD) back to the Hollywood table. The makeup is found to match those of nine of the Dollmaker's victims. Four years later, Bosch is sued by Church's widow. Her attorney portrays Bosch as a cowboy and a vigilante, seeking revenge for the unsolved murder of his mother when he