Book Talk: Connelly, ‘Nightshade’

Picturesque Catalina Island lies just a bit more than 20 miles off the coast of Southern California. Its major source of revenue is tourism, ground transportation is by golf cart, and serious crime is not only anathema, but also extremely rare. Buffalo are free to roam the acreage, and they’re a unique tourist attraction in Los Angeles County. It’s a place where errant cops go, much as Napoleon had been exiled to Elba.

Detective Sergeant Stillwell is the top cop on the island, a result of a bit of a tiff with fellow officer Rex Ahern when they were both on the L.A. homicide squad. Relations between the two have degenerated to the point where they call each other Stillborn and A..hole. But, while Stillwell is investigating the decapitation of a buffalo, a woman’s body is recovered, having been weighted down in the waters, next to one of the island’s piers. The drowning is obviously a homicide, and this sets up a jurisdictional dispute between Catalina’s force and the coastal cops. Stillwell and Ahern’s boss demands that they work together to solve the case.

When it is determined that the corpse is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a member of the waitstaff at the exclusive Black Marlin Club on the island, the case is complicated by the list of multi-millionaire members. In fact, the club is so exclusive that Doug Allen, mayor of Avalon, is granted membership only so long as he holds on to his office. So, Stillwell, known locally as “Stil,” has to maintain a delicate balance among three factions: his uneasy partnership with Ahern, his investigation of the extremely powerful men who are members of the BMC, and his own romantic attachment to Tash Dano, the island’s assistant harbormaster.