“I think there has to be an empathic strike between the reader and the protagonist. There has to be something said or known that connects the reader to this person you're going to ride through the story with.”

American author of detective novels and crime fiction

Michael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and crime fiction. He is best known for creating LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller, characters who appear across much of his work. He has written 42 novels and one work of non-fiction, and his books have sold more than 74 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. His first novel, The Black Echo, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2003 and 2004, he served as president of the Mystery Writers of America, and several of his novels were adapted for film, including Blood Work and The Lincoln Lawyer.