Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers

Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers: From #1 best seller Michael Connelly's first career as a prizewinning crime reporter, the gripping, true stories that inspired and informed his novels. Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends, and, of course, the killers, to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real-life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form.

"The author is strongest bringing quiet moments to life, such as the despair of parents hoping that a missing child will still turn up, or the patient, resigned professionalism of weary detectives." (Publishers Weekly) "This volume works on several levels: as a source of insight into Connelly's craft; as a collection of compelling true-crime stories; and as a great primer for journalists." (Booklist)

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers - Paperback

  Price

  $14.99 $3.45 (77% Off) Buy from Amazon.com
  (as of 2010-09-03 21:50 PDT)

  Rating

  2.0 (60 reviews)

  Publisher

  Back Bay Books

  Shop

  Amazon

  Format

  Paperback

  Publish Date

  Jun 12, 2007

  Sales Rank

  461532

  ISBN

  0316012793

  ISBN-13

  9780316012799

  Pages

  384

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  Product Description / Editorial Review

  Before Michael Connelly became a novelist, he was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat. In these vivid, hard-hitting pieces, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends--and of, course, the killers--to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath.
  
  Book Description:
  From No. 1 bestseller Michael Connelly's first career as a prizewinning crime reporter--the gripping, true stories that inspired and informed his novels. Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends--and, of course, the killers--to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real-life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form.
  Amazon.com Exclusive
  Before he became a bestselling novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In his vivid new book, Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, Connelly leads readers past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, and the killers to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath.
  Read an exclusive essay from Michael Connelly — Source: Amazon

  Customer Reviews

  Sometimes a little effort would be nice...

  Like Scott Adams' constant rehashing of old Dilbert strips, Connelly tries to get away with one here and the only ones to suffer are his fans. Taking old stories from his newspaper and collecting them without any attempt to follow-up, discuss the cases from a new perspective, or at least try to add something to mix is disrespectful to the readers that support his fiction. The only thing that keeps it from a one star for me is at least the cases were interesting and he's a good reporter, but with a little effort this could have been something much better.

  Rating: 2
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by J. Carroll, 2010-08-10

  What Happened to the Editor?

  I guess if there had been an editor it wouldn't have been long enough for a book. The intro is great and it just falls apart after that. Each chapter is several columns about the same subject very clumsily stuck together so it comes across as redundant. I made it about halfway through & gave up. What was he thinking? I think he can write but I'm not checking further.

  Rating: 1
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by CrufflerSteve, 2010-06-16

  Tedious at best

  There are a lot of former newspaper reporters who go on to become novelists...Indeed,one might almost say that this is the goal of every news reporter..Most of these transistions do not work..Yes,the reporter-turned-novelist may get one or more books out of the change-0ver,and some may even get a whole string of them,but all in all the same traits that made them successful writing "who,what and where" for the daily does not translate well when actually trying to go beyond a"just the facts,mam" newspaper mentality..
  Michael Connelly used to be a crime reporter,first in Florida,later in Los Angeles..In "Crime Beat" one is subjected to almost 400 pages of Connelly's old crime reporting,all of which is tedious at best..Connelly's approach to crime reporting ,judging by the examples in this book,was to provide a very no frills story,adding bits of conversation from time to time just to break up the monotony..Reading "Crime Beat" is exactly what one would expect if one went to a library and asked the librarian if she/he had any 20 or 30 year old newspapers around that could be looked at..Old news,blandly reported,and best forgotten..
  In his introduction to this book Connelly,ever the self-promoter,makes a big deal out of claiming that the insights he alledgedly obtained in his years as a crime reporter helped him formulate his"Harry Bosch" fiction works..I have not personally read any of these,but if they are even half as dry and as boring as the material contained in"Crime Beat" I don't want to read them,now or ever..Sure,the guy has won some awards,most of which were given out by other writers groups..Should this commend Connelly,or validate his work?Look at it this way;the academy awards are voted upon by entertainers and performers,few of which are in touch with popular taste..These past few years most major awards have gone to films and to performances that the public has not cared about one whit..Has this put a stop to the performers,who have taken the public's hint and began to give the awards to films and performances that jibe with public preference?Not on your life...
  All in all "Crime Beat" makes reading about crime sleep-inducing..I can only speculate about Connelly's other,fictional works,since after reading"Crime Beat" there is no way in the world I'd ever spend a penny to find out firsthand.

  Rating: 1
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by Sharon Levenson, 2010-05-03

  Cold Leftovers

  I'm a big Michael Connelly fan, reading everything I can find that's written by him. I expected this to contain stories of his experiences and their impact on him. Instead it was just rehashed newspaper articles, including mind-numbing repetitions. It's like sorting through old, old newspaper clippings that belonged to a dead relative.
  
  It's pretty much a rip-off for Connelly fans. Maybe his boat was about to sink and he urgently needed money for the repairs. Maybe the transmission went out in his Porsche. Whatever the motive it was an easy way to make some quick cash without doing any work. Hit "Control C" & "Control V" a few hundred times and the book's finished.
  
  I'll continue to read his novels, but I won't be buying any more of his memoirs. If you want a memoir try Road Work by Mark (Blackhawk Down) Bowden.
  HRColey

  Rating: 2
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by H. R. Coley, 2010-04-09

  Stale and awful ...

  Unfortunately this book is not what it could have been.
  
  It could have been a collection of Connelly's journalism with some reflections from the author tying the pieces to his creative process in writing crime fiction or his personal reflections on each piece from his current position as a talented writer of crime fiction. It wasn't. It was, instead, a recycled collection of newspaper clippings. The stories, once so current and maybe even flashy, are now pretty stale and shopworn - your basic crime beat writing with nothing really to set it apart from other crime beat writing aside from its author's eventual fame.
  
  Don't bother.

  Rating: 1
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by Caitlin Martin, 2010-01-31

  

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers - Paperback

  Price

  $14.99 $12.81 (15% Off) Buy from Barnes & Noble
  (as of 2010-09-01 16:01 PDT)

  Rating

  2.0 (28 reviews)

  Publisher

  Little, Brown & Company

  Shop

  Barnes & Noble

  Format

  Paperback

  Publish Date

  Jun 2007

  Sales Rank

  151966

  ISBN

  0316012793

  ISBN-13

  9780316012799

  Pages

  384

  Edition Description

  Reprint

  Alternate Versions

  • eBook - $9.9
  • MP3 Book - Unabridged - $16.6

  Biography

  A former Los Angeles Times crime reporter, Michael Connelly’s familiarity with the seamy side of L.A. adds a steamy kind of street cred to his hardboiled, gritty detective novels -- especially his bestselling series of mysteries featuring dark detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch.

  From the Publisher

  Before Michael Connelly became a novelist, he was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat. In these vivid, hard-hitting pieces, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends--and of, course, the killers--to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath.

  Synopsis

  Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat. In these vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the listener past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends–and, of course, the killers–to tell the real stories or murder and its aftermath.CRIME BEAT presents stories as fascinating as they are chilling, from the serial killer of young models who cuts a swath across the country to elude police, to the man who leads a bizarre double life on two coasts before his elaborate hoax breaks down. Here, too, we can see Connelly's razor-sharp eye for telling details: a worn-down earpiece on a cop's eyeglasses, the revealing high school yearbook quotes of an alleged cold-blooded murderer, the checkered career of a bumbling gang of killers who publicly advertise their services.Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Mich...

  The New York Times - Charles Taylor

  Connelly is particularly good in a section titled "Death Squad," about a case involving a Los Angeles Police Department squad that surreptitiously followed people suspected of criminal activity and allowed crimes to take place. The reasoning was that the cops would then have a better chance of convicting them once they were arrested. In the case Connelly writes about, it allowed the cops to act as executioners right after the crime. This is exactly the sort of subject that calls for hardheadedness, and Connelly supplies it, not in his prose but in his determination not to take the word of authority simply because it comes from authority. The articles that make up "Death Squad" suggest there is a place for the hard-boiled influence in reporting. Not by aping the prose of Chandler and his progeny, but by following the motto of a less glamorous icon, Jack Webb's Joe Friday: Just the facts.

  The Washington Post - Patrick Anderson

  Every generation produces reporters whose talent is essentially novelistic and for whom journalism is a way station on the road to fiction. Hemingway was the classic example of the 20th century, but there are many others -- Tom Wolfe was one, and so is Connelly. For instance, here's the lead of the first crime story reprinted in the book, from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1987: "It has been four days since anybody has heard from or seen Walter Moody, and people are thinking that something is wrong." It's not the typical who-what-when-where-why-and- how formula of police reporting. Connelly was always looking for mood, drama, eccentricity, the telling detail. One of the fascinations of this collection is spotting the police-beat details -- the fellow with teardrops tattooed below his eyes, the detective who chewed the earpiece of his glasses -- that later punctuate the Bosch novels.

  
  — Source: Barnes & Noble

  Customer Reviews

  Not as entertaining as Connelly's fiction, this accumulation of newspaper articles seems repetitive

  Expecting something more like true-life stories in the vein of Harry Bosch or other Michael Connelly characters, I was disappointed by the way the material was presented, as newspaper articles. Sometimes a number of articles going over the same information became boring because it was so repetitive. I'm going to stick to his fiction, which I thoroughly enjoy, from now on.

  Rating: 2
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by Anonymous, 2010-04-10

  

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers - MP3 Book

  Price

  $14.98 $12.43 (17% Off) Buy from Barnes & Noble
  (as of 2010-08-31 23:31 PDT)

  Rating

  2.0 (28 reviews)

  Publisher

  Hachette Audio

  Shop

  Barnes & Noble

  Format

  MP3 Book

  Publish Date

  May 2006

  Sales Rank

  633080

  ISBN

  1594835152

  ISBN-13

  9781594835155

  Edition Description

  Abridged

  Alternate Versions

  Biography

  A former Los Angeles Times crime reporter, Michael Connelly’s familiarity with the seamy side of L.A. adds a steamy kind of street cred to his hardboiled, gritty detective novels -- especially his bestselling series of mysteries featuring dark detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch.

  From the Publisher

  Before Michael Connelly became a novelist, he was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat. In these vivid, hard-hitting pieces, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends--and of, course, the killers--to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath.

  Synopsis

  Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat. In these vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the listener past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends–and, of course, the killers–to tell the real stories or murder and its aftermath.CRIME BEAT presents stories as fascinating as they are chilling, from the serial killer of young models who cuts a swath across the country to elude police, to the man who leads a bizarre double life on two coasts before his elaborate hoax breaks down. Here, too, we can see Connelly's razor-sharp eye for telling details: a worn-down earpiece on a cop's eyeglasses, the revealing high school yearbook quotes of an alleged cold-blooded murderer, the checkered career of a bumbling gang of killers who publicly advertise their services.Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Mich...

  The New York Times - Charles Taylor

  Connelly is particularly good in a section titled "Death Squad," about a case involving a Los Angeles Police Department squad that surreptitiously followed people suspected of criminal activity and allowed crimes to take place. The reasoning was that the cops would then have a better chance of convicting them once they were arrested. In the case Connelly writes about, it allowed the cops to act as executioners right after the crime. This is exactly the sort of subject that calls for hardheadedness, and Connelly supplies it, not in his prose but in his determination not to take the word of authority simply because it comes from authority. The articles that make up "Death Squad" suggest there is a place for the hard-boiled influence in reporting. Not by aping the prose of Chandler and his progeny, but by following the motto of a less glamorous icon, Jack Webb's Joe Friday: Just the facts.

  The Washington Post - Patrick Anderson

  Every generation produces reporters whose talent is essentially novelistic and for whom journalism is a way station on the road to fiction. Hemingway was the classic example of the 20th century, but there are many others -- Tom Wolfe was one, and so is Connelly. For instance, here's the lead of the first crime story reprinted in the book, from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1987: "It has been four days since anybody has heard from or seen Walter Moody, and people are thinking that something is wrong." It's not the typical who-what-when-where-why-and- how formula of police reporting. Connelly was always looking for mood, drama, eccentricity, the telling detail. One of the fascinations of this collection is spotting the police-beat details -- the fellow with teardrops tattooed below his eyes, the detective who chewed the earpiece of his glasses -- that later punctuate the Bosch novels.

  
  — Source: Barnes & Noble

  Customer Reviews

  Ho Hum!

  After the first few sentences, this book bored the hell out of this reader. having read the newspapers, all the rehashed stories were redundant. Connelly could've done much, much, MUCH better. Can a reader say refund?

  Rating: 1
  Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers review by Anonymous, 2010-04-12

  

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers (Unabridged) - iTunes Audiobook

  Price

  $23.95 Download on iTunes
  (as of 2010-09-02 6:40 PDT)

  Publisher

  Books on Tape

  Shop

  Apple iTunes Store

  Format

  iTunes Audiobook

  Publish Date

  May 9, 2006

  Length

  8 hours 49 minutes

  Narrator

  Narrator:Howard Samuel Preview

  Presented by

  Audible.com

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  From #1 best seller Michael Connelly's first career as a prize-winning crime reporter, the gripping, true stories that inspired and informed his novels. Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends, and, of course, the killers, to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real-life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form.
  
  "This volume works on several levels: as a source of insight into Connelly's craft; as a collection of compelling true-crime stories; and as a great primer for journalists." (Booklist) "The author is strongest bringing quiet moments to life, such as the despair of parents hoping that a missing child will still turn up, or the patient, resigned professionalism of weary detectives....Devotees of Connelly's fiction will enjoy tracing the real-life roots of some of his plots." (Publishers Weekly) — Source: Apple iTunes Store

  

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers - iTunes Audiobook

  Price

  $11.95 Download on iTunes
  (as of 2010-09-04 21:31 PDT)

  Publisher

  Hachette Audio

  Shop

  Apple iTunes Store

  Format

  iTunes Audiobook

  Publish Date

  May 8, 2006

  Length

  6 hours 13 minutes

  Narrator

  Narrator:Len Cariou, Nancy McKeon, and Carl Franklin Preview

  Presented by

  Audible.com

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  From #1 best seller Michael Connelly's first career as a prizewinning crime reporter, the gripping, true stories that inspired and informed his novels. Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends, and, of course, the killers, to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real-life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form.
  
  "The author is strongest bringing quiet moments to life, such as the despair of parents hoping that a missing child will still turn up, or the patient, resigned professionalism of weary detectives." (Publishers Weekly) "This volume works on several levels: as a source of insight into Connelly's craft; as a collection of compelling true-crime stories; and as a great primer for journalists." (Booklist) — Source: Apple iTunes Store

  

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers - Digital Download

  Price

  $14.98 Buy from Audible.com
  (as of 2010-06-09 0:00 PDT)

  Publisher

  Hachette Audio

  Shop

  Audible

  Format

  Digital Download

  Publish Date

  May 3, 2006

  ISBN-13

  9781594832208

  Keywords

  crime, florida, reporting, journalism, los angeles times, south florida sun-sentinel

  Length

  6 hours 16 minutes

  Narrator

  Len Cariou, Nancy McKeon, and Carl Franklin

  Preview

  mwprealmp3

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  Sign up AudibleListener® Gold and Download Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers for Special Offer Price: $7.49

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter.... — Source: Audible

  

• Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers (Unabridged) - Digital Download

  Price

  $39.95 $27.96 (30% Off) Buy from Audible.com
  (as of 2010-06-09 0:00 PDT)

  Publisher

  Books on Tape

  Shop

  Audible

  Format

  Digital Download

  Publish Date

  May 3, 2006

  ISBN-13

  9781415930038

  Keywords

  A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, reporter, journalism

  Length

  8 hours 50 minutes

  Narrator

  Howard Samuel

  Preview

  mwprealmp3

  Promotion

  Sign up AudibleListener® Gold and Download Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers (Unabridged) for Special Offer Price: $7.49

  Product Description / Editorial Review

  From #1 best seller Michael Connelly's first career as a prize-winning crime reporter, the gripping, true stories that inspired and informed his novels. Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends, and, of course, the killers, to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real-life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form. — Source: Audible

  

• Crime Beat - Apple iBook for iPad/iPhone 4

  Price

  $9.99 Download in iBooks (iPad/iPhone 4)
  (as of 2010-09-04 3:36 PDT)

  Publisher

  Little, Brown and Company

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  Apple iBookstore

  Format

  Apple iBook for iPad/iPhone 4

  Category

  Social Science

  Seller

  Seller:Hachette Book Group

  Language

  Language:English

  This product is available on iPad/iPhone 4 with iBooks

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  Product Description / Editorial Review

  From #1 bestseller Michael Connelly's first career as a prizewinning crime reporter--the gripping, true stories that inspired and informed his novels. Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends--and, of course, the killers--to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real-life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form. — Source: Apple iBookstore

  

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