Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers by Michael Connally was a book that I really hoped would be like Murder Beyond the Grave by James Patterson. It isn’t.

Where Patterson told the story of a true crime, Connally basically just collected his old newspaper articles written while he was a crime reporter. Patterson’s was an interesting page-turner and Connally’s was a snooze-fest.

As an author, I feel somewhat traitorous. I don’t like to rip other author’s work because I know that it is painful to hear when someone doesn’t like your work. Part of my writing career though is here on this blog for the past few decades and to that audience, I have promised (and hopefully delivered) honesty and my true thoughts. I really didn’t like this book.

It may be your style. It is just not mine. Yes, part of that may be due to the fact that I had a preconceived notion of what a good true crime book was.

That said, I am still interested in reading some of his Bosch books (I love the Prime TV series.) I just don’t think truth is his genre.

by Chris Doelle