Nightshade

Written by Michael Connelly

Narrated by Will Damron

Introducing Detective Stilwell: a cop relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.
 
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.
 
Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.
 
Propulsive and atmospheric, Nightshade launches a brand new character into the Connelly universe, and proves without question that Michael Connelly is “the undisputed master of the modern crime novel” (Real Book Spy).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: May 20, 2025
• ISBN: 9781668650592

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is the author of thirty-nine previous novels, among them New York Times bestsellers The Waiting, Resurrection Walk, and Desert Star. His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than eighty-nine million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of four television series: Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, The Lincoln Lawyer, and the upcoming Ballard. He spends his time in California and Florida. www.michaelconnelly.com f/MichaelConnellyBooks

Reviews for Nightshade

[Jo Ann Nelson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have read every book by Michael Connelly, enjoying each one ... especially Bosch books! The Renee Ballard books are very good also, but definitely not as good as the Bosch books. I am a bit disappointed in this new series though. The storyline is a bit slower and tamer, the characters that will probably progress through the series are a bit too laid back. I am wondering if my "just okay" review is mostly about the narration. His affect throughout the book, not matter the action being portrayed---romantic, action, murder investigation, etc.--- was spoken in a bit of a monotone, as if talking at a funeral. My review may have been different if not an audio book. I look forward to another book in this series, which I will read instead of audio, definitely hoping the next book will be a 5-star Connelly classic!

[berniean-961084 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I'm a fan of Michael Connelly, from Bosch to Haller to Ballard and everything in-between. But I won't be reading any more books in this series. Stilwell is not a character I find admirable. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say he does something in this book that I find unacceptable no matter the motivation. There are always moral gray areas. This was black and white to me.

[thewanderingjew_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nightshade, Michael Connelly, author; Will Damron, narrator
Sergeant Stilwell has been exiled to the island of Catalina because of the internal politics of the Los Angeles homicide department. Although it is considered a step down, he enjoys living and working there. His romantic and working life are both satisfying. So far, after three years, the frenzy of LA is no longer part of his life. He does not miss it.
When the story begins, Stilwell’s day is interrupted by the report of the discovery of a mutilated buffalo in a protected area. He suspects it has been deliberately staged to start rumors of aliens in the area in order to attract tourists. He begins to search for the murder weapon. Then, another discovery is made that is far worse. The body of an unidentified female, stuffed into a bag that has been weighted with an anchor, has drifted into the harbor. Her main identifying mark, because of decomposition, is a purple streak in her hair. The color is called Nightshade, and it gives the book its title. Nightshade is also a poison plant.
After the body of Leigh-Anne Moss is discovered and identified, Stilwell realizes that this woman might be connected to another crime that he is investigating, the theft of a sculpture from the Black Marlin Club. A female employee was accused of fraternizing with the members of the club and was terminated. Then, she was also accused of the theft. Now she has gone missing. The theft is within his jurisdiction, but the homicide is not. Because he believes that the victim in the water and the woman accused of the theft are possibly one and the same, he feels it necessary to investigate both, even if clandestinely. He is drawn into the politics of police work, once again.
As the investigation proceeds, there is unexpected violence and corruption. Even though there are suspicions about who is guilty, the crimes must be proven, not just suspected, and the gathering of evidence is complicated. Some of the scenes are rather obvious, though, leaving guesswork by the wayside. The bad guys and the good guys are clearly defined and easy to figure out.
This book, which is the first in a new series by Connelly is very easy to read. The mystery is simplistic. In the end, most of the crimes are solved and the guilty parties receive some kind of justice. Some of them seem to get away with their crimes, but they will probably be featured in future books in the series. I expect “Baby Head” Terranova to reappear and face justice. This series is bound to be popular as a beach or vacation read that doesn’t require too much thought, but will hold the interest of the reader and provide reading pleasure.

[alizarin_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm a big Michael Connelly fan...have read all the books and watched the series....but this was a big disappointment for me. Felt like it was something he pulled out of the vault. I couldn't get a grasp of the characters and the plot....well, I just don't know because I didn't finish the book. :-(

[edwardsgt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sergeant Stilwell, LAPD, posted to Catalina Island investigates a body found in the harbour and finds himself in conflict with former colleagues and local powerful figures. Great plot and characters which could have featured in a Harry Bosch story.

[judiex · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have read all of Michael Connelly’s novels i’ve always look forward to the latest one.
NIGHTSHADE Was a disappointment. Detective.Stilwell is a new character. He was removed from his previous job, Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective, because of personality clash and now works a less prestigious area, a rustic Catalina Island off thev Southern California coast.
NIGHTSHADE, is a lovely purple, poisonous plant.
He has to encounter Ahern, his antagonist from the previous job, who also has been transferred. The man carries a grudge to extremes. I really don’t see how he’s able to serve in a police department because of his attitude and temper.
While most of his work involves drunken disorderly and petty theft, he is called in to check a corpse weighed down at the bottom of a harbor and wrapped in a black bag. The body has been underwater for several days and is difficult to try to identify.
In addition, a buffalo has been stolen from our nature, reserve and brutally slaughtered with its head missing and statue has been stolen from a prestigious club.
Forced to work with the previous nemesis, he has to cross lines while staying on track.
There are several characters with various backgrounds in this book, often with cross purposes.
The book is mostly well. Read well, there’s some repetition, and lots of descriptions.Eventually, the reader finds out more about the previous encounter between Stilwell NIGHTSHADE, is a lovely purple, poisonous plant. and Ahern. Stilwell seems to spend more time working in the field than there are hours in the day. It makes for difficult personal relationships.

[lewilliams-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not the best Michael Connelly book. Did not hold my interest. The first Harry Bosh and Rene Ballard books had more grit and action that keep me turning pages than this first book that introduced a new character Detective Stillwell and a new setting on Catalina Island. I've read and enjoyed all the other Michael Connelly books...this new book Nightshade...not so much.

[infjsarah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Michael Connelly book is always a treat. And this was a surprise beginning to a new series away from Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer. Enjoyable as they always are as he starts to establish new characters. Stilwell is perhaps too much like Bosch in character but a series will give him time to develop into something different. And I had never heard of Catalina Island so I learnt something too.

[lbswiener · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nightshade is an excellent story that pours on the heat at the very end. Murders, attempted murder, threats, theft, all take place on Catalina Island, Pasadena, and Los Angeles, California. Five stars were given to this book.

[celticlibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first in a new crime thriller series by this bestselling author!

Set on beautiful Catalina Island, this novel introduces a new character, Detective Sergeant Stilwell, who has been assigned to the sheriff’s substation there because of problems he had as a homicide cop in LA County, California. One of his cases is the investigation of the death of a young woman who was found wrapped in a sail bag and weighted with an anchor in the harbor. Assisted by his girlfriend, Tash Dano, assistant harbor master, and the other police officers also exiled there, he attempts to solve the murder as well as expose corruption and other crimes on this beautiful island.

I liked the action and the excellent writing that kept this moving a fast pace that I could easily devour in a single setting. The characters need to be a bit more fleshed out, including perhaps getting the first name of our main character Stilwell, but I am looking forward to a follow up installment. The details about the setting are interesting and the locale will doubtless prove that bad things happen even in idyllic places.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The narrator, Will Damron, who always does a great job voicing strong male characters. His performance enhanced my enjoyment of the novel.

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nightshade is the beginning of a brand-new thriller series by Michael Connelly, set on Santa Catalina Island, California. Though this is often shortened to Catalina Island or Catalina.

Detective Stilwell from the LA County Sheriff's department has been sent over to Catalina as he has offended a few of his colleagues on the mainland. Here he heads up the Sheriff’s department with the other officers also being sent over in exile from the mainland. To keep them out of the way and stop them creating headlines the Sheriff’s department cannot afford, literally.

Stilwell is called out to a ‘floater’ in the harbour and so head’s down there with his wet suit and takes a look. Then he calls over to the mainland for them to handle the body. The mayor appears reminding Stilwell that it is going to be a busy weekend for the harbour and he wants everything to be handled, quietly. Stilwell obliges.

Stilwell still has plenty of work on his plate with the investigation into a mutilated body of buffalo, which some are spinning out as the work of aliens. Anything to bring the mad alien hunters’ money to the island. He is also called out to the Black Marlin Club, an exclusive sailing club as there had been a robbery.

Stilwell does his due diligence and goes to the club and takes the report and any other information so that he can investigate the matter. He is told that there had been a member of the staff who had been fired the same weekend it went missing. He got the name and description of the person, and it was similar to the floater.

Though the mainland is investigating the floater case Stilwell cannot help but have a look at the case. He knows this will wind his colleagues up on the mainland. When he finds some information that is important to the case he feeds it back to his captain, who brings him into the case officially.

There are so many twists and turns and even a few surprises that keep you gripped throughout the book. It would be easy to go on about what happens in the book but it would be giving away too many of the twists. This is a gripping thriller that moves the main action from LA to what are considered California’s channel islands.

This is a fantastic introduction to Detective Stilwell and Catalina and cannot wait for more to come.

[dianekeenoy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have really gotten some great new audiobooks from Audible's sale and Nightshade is one of them. You can't go wrong choosing a Michael Connelly book. This book introduces us to Detective Stilwell. He has been transferred from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department to a very quiet Catalina Island with a small police force. When the body of a young woman washes up in a black sail bag weighted down with an anchor, Stilwell is determined to find justice for her.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had heard that Michael Connelly had a new book out - Nightshade. What I had missed was that this was the first book in a new series!

I was reticent to jump up and down until I had a few chapters under my belt. After that, I was on board.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been moved back to policing Catalina Island. It's beautiful but he's capable of so much more. When a body is found in the harbor he goes to work. But he's told to let the mainland detectives in charge and to stay out of it. Yeah, you know what happens right? He can't stop...

Connelly has done an excellent job in creating a lead that you can't help but be behind. The plotting kept me engaged from first page to last. The supporting cast are well drawn. The set is well drawn and actual places are included.

Just a winner all round! I'll be waiting for book number 2.

[eyes92c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Murder on Catalina Island!

Set on Catalina Island off the Californian coast, an hour by ferry from Los Angeles, the slaughter of a protected buffalo and a drowned body trussed up in a sail bag held down by an anchor and chain don’t seem to have anything in common—until they do.
Detective Sergeant Stilwell who’s been sent here as punishment for opening up a case supposedly solved, actually finds island life soothing to his soul. Also an ex police diver, Stilwell finds himself coming up against the same LA detective who is the cause of his banishment.
Stilwell takes on the rich and powerful members of the exclusive yacht club, gangsters, and local politics, mixing to make an interesting read.
A somewhat different mystery and police procedural that opened up vistas I hadn’t explored before.

A Little, Brown & Co. ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

[ziggiole · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fresh start but a little tame ending

[eyejaybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book marks a major for Michael Connelly. By my reckoning it is his fortieth novel, and is just the second that does not somehow cross refer to the others. The previous ‘singleton’ was Chasing the Dime, published more than twenty years ago.

The protagonist of this novel is Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell, formerly of LAPD, who has transferred to the island of Catalina where he now heads the (meagre) local police force. This career move had not been planned – like Connelly’s principal creation, Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, he had had a track record of annoying those in authority and falling out with detective partners who were less wedded to the need to investigate all cases with equal vigour.

As the novel opens, a woman’s body is recovered from the sea not far from the harbour, where it had been dumped after being wrapped in heavy chains with a heavy anchor added for good measure. Because of the location of the body, and the fact that the death is immediately classed as a homicide, the responsibility for the investigation is passed to the mainland, and given to Stilwell’s former partner. Stilwell’s offers to help the investigation are unwelcome, and tension quickly develops. In the meantime, clues about the possible identity of the dead woman come Stilwell’s way, and he tries to force his way on to the case.

As usual with Connelly’s books, the reader is sucked in right from the beginning. I started reading and before I knew it I was seventy pages in and completely hooked. His characters are always plausible, and his depiction of the rivalries and irritations that can develop between people essentially seeking the same outcome are very cleverly done. I am hoping that this is the start of a new series, and that there may even be some interaction between Stilwell and the world of Harry Bosch.

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clever story, fun to have it set in Avalon. New protagonist as detective. The butchery of a bison is the opening that gets things moving. The a young woman’s body is found in the harbor. She has a purple streak dyed in her hair. It turns out the dye is called Nightshade hence the title. The protagonist it’s just beginning a love affair and that gets entangled into the events. I was surprised when the murderer was revealed.

[booklover1801 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Michael Connelly kicks off a new series with "Nightshade," whose hero, Detective Sergeant Stilwell, lives and works on Santa Catalina Island. Stil, as he is known, was transferred from LA County to Catalina after he had a serious altercation with a fellow detective, Rex Ahearn. In Stil's current position, most of the crimes he deals with involve disorderly behavior, theft, and assault.

When someone discovers a woman's body with an anchor chain wrapped around her and snagged on a coral outcropping in the harbor, Stil launches his own investigation. He does this in spite of the fact that the case belongs to the aforementioned Ahearn and his partner, Frank Sampedro. Ahearn loathes Stilwell and warns him not to interfere, but Stil is not in the habit of following orders. He attempts to identify the victim and find out who had the motive, means, and opportunity to bludgeon this woman to death and dispose of her corpse in the water.

Even Connelly's diehard fans may be disappointed in "Nightshade." It lacks the grit, vivid descriptive writing, and intriguing characters that we have come to expect from this gifted author. Stilwell does not have much of a backstory. He is divorced and is in a relationship with assistant harbormaster Natasha (Tash) Dano. It is not particularly exciting to observe Stil poking his nose into matters that do not, strictly speaking, concern him. It is clear, however, that he has good instincts and spots clues that others might miss.

This is a plot-driven tale with a host of red herrings. The villains are dull, the story is slow-moving, and it has limited suspense. In the past, Connelly has thrilled us with thematic, poignant, and memorable works of fiction. This novel does not rise to that high level. Although Stilwell is smart and determined, his personality is too bland to keep us invested in his efforts to track down the guilty parties.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sheriff's Detective Stilwell is a welcome addition to the Harry Bosch School of Policing. A former sheriff's dive team member, he's a good fit for the quieter pace of Catalina Island in Michael Connelly's Nightshade.

A new addition to the Connelly canon calls for a new setting, and I really enjoyed getting to know Catalina Island, which-- in Stilwell's world-- is known as "the Island of Misfit Toys" because police officers with blotches on their records are sent there if they can't be fired outright. Naturally, boating plays a big part in life on the island. Stilwell has gotten to know his fellow officers, their strengths and weaknesses, and he's in a relationship with a woman who's always lived on Catalina. Her very different perspective means that they don't always see eye-to-eye.

The investigations are what we've come to expect from Michael Connelly-- intriguing, engrossing, and filled with interesting factoids (like Prada's RFI chips). I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about Stilwell in the next book. Bring it on!

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)