Crime Beat

prose brings the reader a clear perspective on what Archer sees, freed of cynicism and ornamentation.
    This is exactly the sense in which I think of Michael Connelly as a hard-boiled writer, and one of the most successful. He has been able to achieve that detachment without losing the emotional center, without sacrificing empathy. He is able to sustain a paradoxical sense of distance and involvement in his fiction—like a reporter, sharing the experience of cops without becoming one himself, balancing the grief of victims, the nature of victimizers, the frustrations of cops. He learned to do it in the pieces collected here.
    P ERHAPS YOU NOTICED I began this essay by saying Michael Connelly is a reporter. Not was a reporter. Is.
    The would-be novelist stuck in a career as a newsman is an old cliché. I don’t see Michael ever being stuck. I don’t know if he went to his first crime scene and gathered his notes with the idea of finding material for his books. You will certainly see in these stories the raw materials—the crimes, the criminals, the cops and the city—that make up his fiction. But what these pieces do show is that Connelly was a hell of a good reporter. And that being a hell of a good reporter was a great start for becoming a hell of a good novelist.
    M ICHAEL CARLSON was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and lives in London with his wife and son. He has written about Michael Connelly for the Spectator, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Perth (Australia) Sunday Times, Shots and Crime Time, where he also edits the film section. His studies of the directors Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood and Oliver Stone were published in the Pocket Essentials series.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    The stories contained in this collection all carried the byline of Michael Connelly but without exception they were all labored over by numerous editors, copyeditors and fellow reporters. It is impossible to write a newspaper or magazine story without the input of many. I wish to thank all of those who helped make these stories fit to print.
    I also wish to thank Michael Pietsch, Asya Muchnick and Pamela Marshall for their more recent work in making the stories suitable for reprinting here. And last but not least, special thanks to Steven Vascik of SCV Publications for first gathering and publishing this collection.

PERMISSIONS
    We are grateful to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times for permission to reprint the following previously published stories.
    SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
WILDER CHARGED WITH SLAYING HOUSEWIFE
Copyright © 1984. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
WILDER LED DOUBLE LIFE IN SOUTH FLORIDA
Copyright © 1984. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
WILDER VICTIMS STILL MISSING 1 YEAR LATER
Copyright © 1985. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
IDENTITY OF MURDER VICTIM STILL SHROUDED IN MYSTERY
Copyright © 1986. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
THE MOB SQUAD
Copyright © 1987. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
BILLY THE BURGLAR
Copyright © 1987. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
THE MAIL-ORDER MURDERS
Copyright © 1987. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
LAUDERDALE HOMICIDE
Copyright © 1987. Reprinted with permission of South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
    LOS ANGELES TIMES
PORTRAIT OF A MURDER SUSPECT
Copyright © 1987, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
TARZANA MAN HELD IN MURDER OF HIS MISSING FATHER
Copyright © 1987, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
LAPD FOREIGN PROSECUTION UNIT
Copyright © 1987, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
SAKAI FOUGHT KILLERS
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
MURDER CASE
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
ROOKIE OFFICER DIES IN STRUGGLE FOR GUN
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
DEATH FOR DEATH
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
1,000 ATTEND RITES FOR SLAIN ROOKIE OFFICER
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
4 MEN ARRESTED IN LAKE VIEW TERRACE QUADRUPLE KILLING
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
DRUG RING KINGPIN CALLS THE SHOTS FROM PRISON, POLICE SAY
Copyright © 1988, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
AMBUSH SHOOTING
Copyright © 1989, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.
WHO SHOT VIC