On April 27, 2023, Michael joined Alafair Burke to present the Grand Master Award to Michael Connelly at the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards ceremony.
Their tribute is below, as is the video of the presentation. Enjoy!
Everybody Counts or Nobody Counts
We have always wanted to collaborate as writers, but also wanted to keep our friendship intact. When Mystery Writers of America asked us to contribute this tribute, we knew there would be no possible creative differences. With a career spanning four decades and nearly 40 bestselling, award-winning novels, Michael Connelly is the gold standard for crime writing, and we join the rest of our community in celebrating his receipt of the Grand Master Award in recognition of his significant contributions to our genre.
More than thirty years ago, we met Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, a Vietnam veteran who served as a “tunnel rat” before joining the Los Angeles Police Department, in Connelly’s debut, The Black Echo (1992). That novel earned immediate prestige, including MWA’s Edgar Award for Best First Novel, but perhaps no one could have foreseen Bosch’s lasting resonance. Bosch has appeared in 24 novels, a successful seven-season television run, and currently remains on the air in a spin-off series.
Bosch’s mantra from The Black Echo to the present day sums up not only Bosch’s thought about a murder case, but also Connelly’s approach to his craft: “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”
What those five words have meant to the readers of mystery fiction in the past thirty-one years can’t be overstated. Connelly doesn’t write of infallible police detectives crusading against simple villains. His thoughtful and nuanced approach to character has rendered a fictional mirror to our own reality, examining the myriad struggles, victories, and even shames of a modern police department in one of the world’s major cities. He has written his fiction with the reporter’s eye that earned him a spot on the shortlist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1986, and in doing so, has set a new standard for contemporary crime fiction. Connelly writes about the human condition with an unflinching eye, providing readers with an opportunity to consider the lives of others, to think outside of their silos and worldviews. For a writer who got his start when a librarian offered him a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird, empathy has remained a central part of the mission.
Everybody counts.
As noteworthy as the creation of Harry Bosch was to our genre, he’s only one of the enduring characters in Michael Connelly’s Los Angeles. Bosch occupies the same world as his half-brother Mickey Haller, the defense attorney known as “The Lincoln Lawyer” for his habit of working from the backseat of his car. Recent novels have found Bosch operating without a badge but frequently partnered with LAPD Detective Renee Ballard, who works the night shift, aka the “Late Show.” And watching all of it is investigative journalist Jack McEvoy, first introduced in The Poet. Haller already has a feature film and Netflix series of his own, and a series with Ballard is in development, along with another featuring Bosch sidekick J. Edgar, as Connelly’s characters are now as indelible in Hollywood as in publishing. His work has been translated into forty languages, and more than eighty million copies of his books have been sold worldwide. He has also published more than twenty short stories, edited multiple anthologies, and has appeared in the Best American Mystery Stories series repeatedly.
Connelly has also put his journalistic talents to good use in our genre. He is the author of the book Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, chronicling his prior career as a reporter. He produced two documentary films, Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story (about the lifelong struggles of jazz saxophonist Frank Morgan, ending with a tribute concert at San Quentin State Prison) and Tales of the American (about the American hotel and its cultural role in the development of Los Angeles’s Art District). He is the creator and host of two true-crime podcasts: Murder Book (a multi-season podcast featuring homicide cases not covered by popular media) and The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood.
All of this work takes all of the work, and managing success is its own challenge. One of his mantras is to “write with your head down.” No one has done it better. They say every writer has an ego, but it would take a detective of Harry Bosch-caliber to find Michael Connelly’s.
We both say we’re lucky to have known Michael Connelly’s generosity since we began our own publishing careers, but that wasn’t really luck, because he has made support of new writers a priority from the first days of his own career. We are among the many writers who have learned from him, not only about craft and discipline, but also the conscientiousness it takes to juggle it all while remaining a good colleague, friend, spouse, and father. We notice when he writes early in the morning and late at night so he doesn’t miss the moments that matter with his family and a tight knit crew of siblings and friends. We see the way his career has been lifted and supported by his wife, Linda, daughter, Callie, and sister, Jane. Michael Connelly might be the face of the gold-star standard in crime fiction, but he would be the first to tell you the work is absolutely a family affair.
As Janet Maslin of the New York Times has said, “Of all the big-name writers who dominate this genre, Mr. Connelly is the most solid, old-school pro,” and it is such an honor to celebrate him as he receives the esteemed Grand Master award. Congratulations, friend.