Stil’ policing: ‘IRONWOOD’ continues Connelly’s Catalina mysteries…

In recent years, best-selling author Michael Connelly has had a busy time – working as an executive producer and creative consultant on the tv adaptations of his novels (including the Bosch series, the ‘sequel’ series Bosch: Legacy and Ballard (all on Amazon) and The Lincoln Lawyer series (on Netflix) and on top of that penning new novels, often with two titles released each year.

The first of the 2026 stories hits the shelves this month. Like the previous tome (Nightshade), this latest outing has a horticultural title, Ironwood, named after the endangered tree system that can still be found on Catalina which actually proves significant. Connelly proves, once again, that he knows how to deliver a twisting set of mysteries, a brisk pace with many of the chapters being excellent examples of the procedural format, satisfyingly punchy and to the point, carrying the book with a welcome momentum.

There’s a lot going on in Ironwood with several cases running simultaneously  (even the phrase ‘small island, big crime’ gets used more than once) and so much so that when we get to the last ‘act’ as it were, you have to stop and remind yourself of where we left that particular investigation.  The book’s cover (in all versions, though – description-wise – the US edition arguably has the more accurate backdrop) has its focus on a mysterious plane-drop on the island that results in fatalities when an attempted arrest goes wrong… but Stilwell also finds himself finding a new way into a ‘cold case’ when a backpack in the police’s Lost & Found collection points to a serial killer’s previous victims. Add to that some ‘lesser’ cases of vineyard vandalism and gratuitous graffiti and there’s plenty for Catalina to cope with and to keep the pages turning.

Though there’s always a main character that drives the story, Connelly has a welcome habit of interconnecting the worlds of his characters and here Stilwell gets to share some of the pages with Renee Ballard (played by Maggie Q in the Amazon series) when the evidence he unearths leads to a cold case that Ballard’s team is still working on. There’s also a very brief cameo from Harry Bosch (whom long-term readers would have recognised even without the confirmation) and an even briefer one for his daughter, Maddie. A few other familiar supporting characters also get name-checked along the way.

Though Stilwell doesn’t have the lengthy history of Connelly’s other creations (this is only the second novel of his ‘Catalina’ branch of stories – Nightshade was published in April 2025), he’s quickly becoming a likeable character, different enough from his predecessors to avoid too much common ground and with more to reveal, but familiar enough to fit into the thematic mix.

Catalina’s history and geography are obviously well-researched and there’s a real sense of placement and location, rather than mere name-dropping. The author also organically includes affectionate references to the times that the island has appeared on television and film (I for one had no idea that some of the scenes in Jaws were shot just off-shore near the island).

Connelly weaves all the elements together with a confident throughline and one can easily imagine that a future adaptation for the screen (which seems inevitable) will fill a whole season. As for Stilwell’s future… the novel finishes quite abruptly, but with a key decision that will likely have ramifications down the line.

And, for die-hard fans, we finally get an insight into Stilwell’s first name… but you’ll have to read the book to find that out…

Ironwood is released on 19th May in the UK (by Orion) and US (by Little, Brown and Company)…