Nightshade Q &A
Question: You introduce a new character in Nightshade—Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell. Can you tell us a little about him?
Michael Connelly: This is sort of a marooned on a desert island story. Stilwell ran afoul of department politics and was re-assigned to the island of Catalina, 22 miles off the coast of L.A. County. It is not a desert island, but in terms of crime and law enforcement, there is not much happening out there. Or so it would appear. So, it’s not a great assignment. Or so it would appear. Several months into his posting things start to heat up and Stilwell has his hands full, and his mind is full of the recognition that maybe this is the place where I want to be.
Q: You’ve mentioned Catalina Island in other books but have never made it the locale of the story before. What inspired you to make it the main location in Nightshade?
MC: It is my 40th novel and I started thinking that I should not keep coasting on characters I have created over the years; Bosch, Ballard, Haller. I decided that with the 40th novel I would see if I couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks. And Stilwell on Catalina was born.
Q: Is the Sheriff’s department set up on the island in real life exactly as you describe in the novel: one detective handling everything, a judge that comes over one day a week, deputies in trouble get assigned there?
MC: To a great extent it’s fact based. I would not cast aspersions on the real deputies assigned to the island, but there is only one detective assigned there. A judge does come by boat once a week and often swims ashore. While I do write fiction, I am inspired by the real. So I often incorporate the truth in my fiction. When I found out that the judge takes his own boat over, moors in the harbor and then sometimes swims ashore, how could I not use that?
Q: Stilwell seems pretty content on the island and happy in a relationship until a body is found and an old nemesis from the Sheriff’s department gets involved in the murder case. Is the search for justice driving Stilwell or is it the rivalry within the Sheriff’s department?
MC: I think it is definitely both. It is probably not a characteristic anybody is proud of, but negative motivation is a powerful thing. I have used it in my own life to great result. I’m not saying I’m proud of it, but it’s there. But the flip side of this is that Stilwell is a skilled detective and someone motivated by his belief in justice. When there is a murder on the island and he sees the problem with it being investigated by detectives from the mainland, he cannot just sit on the sidelines when he knows he is in the best position to work the case. In that he shares a kinship with the other characters I write about. They will bend and sometimes break the rules when it is the rules that are in the way of justice.
Q: You don’t normally write 2 books in one year. What makes it happen in those rare years, and how do you fit it into your writing life?
MC: Usually, it happens when there is an urgency to tell a story. This usually happens when I introduce a new character. Stilwell, Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer, Haller, were all introduced in two-book years. And there is a subtle correction to make here. I publish two books in a year. I don’t write them in one year. It’s closer to writing three books across two years. Still, they are busy years with little down time, if any, between ending one project and starting the next.
Q: The last time you introduced a new character, Renée Ballard in The Late Show (2017), she became a part of the bigger Bosch canvas. Should we expect to see Det. Stilwell again, and if so, will he be a part of the larger Bosch/Ballard/Haller universe?
MC: Oh yeah. I like Stilwell and about halfway through writing Nightshade I knew I would come back to him. I really love connecting characters and view my books as all just one big story. So next time out with Stilwell, I think you will see him connect in some way with one of the established characters. It’s a little bit tricky because he is stationed out on an island and I will have to figure out a way for him to connect with Ballard or Bosch or Haller. I have been thinking about it a lot lately and the character that keeps coming to mind is Ballard, because of her working cold cases. I think that might be the way to go. That perhaps out on Catalina, Stilwell comes up with something that connects with one of Ballard’s cold cases. We’ll see how that goes.
Q: You have given us some of Stilwell’s backstory—just enough to whet our appetite for more of him. Any hints about what we may learn in the future about Detective Stilwell? Like his first name?
MC: Ha! I am not sure what his first name is yet. But I can give a hint. The name was inspired by a longtime friend of mine named Steve Stilwell. So that would be the default, unless I come up with something exotic like Hieronymus.
