Michael Connelly
Simon Mayo's Books of the Year
Bauer Media
4.8 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
International bestselling author, Michael Connelly, joins Simon and Matt for a natter about his new novel 'Ironwood'. Set on the island of Catalina, they discuss settings, sense-of-place, and how certain landscapes or communities inspire Michael's stories.
They also chat about his iconic characters - Bosch, Ballard and Haller - and why he can't help himself write cameos for them all in other books. As well as this, they delve a little into his writing process - and - check that Harry Bosch isn't close to retirement yet!
Here's a little more info on 'Ironwood':
Sworn to protect a scenic island meant to be far from the evils of the mainland, Detective Sergeant Stilwell can feel danger closing in.
Detective Sergeant Stilwell knows that his posting on Catalina Island is no paradise, but to most residents, it seems blissfully separated-by twenty-two miles of ocean-from the troubles of Los Angeles County. But now a threat is coming to his safe haven.
Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, Stilwell and his deputies watch a plane land in the middle of the night at the Airport in the Sky, a remote airstrip in the mountains. A duffel bag of drugs is dropped and the deputies move in, but things quickly go sideways. While Stilwell chases the fleeing pickup man into the mountainside brush, shots are fired on the runway and the plane flies off.
An internal inquiry follows, putting Stilwell on the bench until he is cleared of responsibility for the disastrous operation. But he is determined to find out who brought deadly violence to his island, and begins his own secret investigation into the drug deal gone wrong.
While under orders to remain in the sheriff's substation, he finds in the lost and found a valuable backpack that was never claimed. He traces it to a woman who disappeared while hiking on the island four years ago. But then why was the pack only turned in two months back? Now thoroughly intrigued, he follows the mystery all the way to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit and Detective Renée Ballard.
Stilwell and Ballard work the case from both sides of the channel, and soon realize they are on the trail of a criminal who revels in taunting the authorities. Meanwhile, frustrated at being shut out of an investigation on his own island, Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the department to pursue a case whose reach is wider than he ever imagine.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey Sainsbury's. We get through so many snacks. Have you got anything to help me save? |
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| 0:14.4 | on thousands of the products your family loves. So you can snack away knowing you're saving money. |
| 0:20.1 | Sainsbury's, good food for all of us. |
| 0:22.1 | Selected products, Aldi Price Match, not in NI. |
| 0:24.3 | Nectar prices require nectar account. |
| 0:25.8 | Terms at sainsbrees.co.com slash aldypricematch |
| 0:28.2 | and welcome. |
| 0:43.5 | It's another Books of the Year podcast from your very good friends at Books of the Year, which is a podcast. |
| 0:49.1 | Yes, as we do say. |
| 0:50.7 | Yes. |
| 0:51.3 | And has been universally declared the number one books podcast in the UK, |
| 0:56.9 | Western Europe and most of the Americas. Most of the Americas as well. Wow, we're spreading our |
| 1:02.1 | tentacles. Yep, that's right. I'm sure we should be doing live shows around the world, |
| 1:06.0 | but in the meantime, we'll just carry on as normal. It's an email from Jane in Deal in Kent. Hello boys. Love the pod. |
| 1:12.5 | Quick one for me. I'm off to Cornwall in June and I want to take a book with me. I'm not a fast reader. |
| 1:19.6 | So I'll only get through one book in a week, but I am torn between two and both of them featured on your pod. |
| 1:26.6 | I know you're not allowed to have favourites. |
| 1:28.6 | I think we probably are. |
| 1:29.3 | Yeah, we are, yeah. |
| 1:30.5 | But I'd be keen to know which one you think I should take with me. |
... |
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