Recommended:Michael Connelly

"Death is my beat. I make my living from it." These lines kick off The Poet (Little, Brown, $22.95 hard) and they set the tone for Jack McEvoy, the narrator-protagonist of the book. McEvoy, a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, is no stranger to the dark side of life. Nor is his creator, Michael Connelly.

Connelly knows a thing or two about cops, crime, and the darker side of human nature. He moved to L.A. from Florida at the beginning of the decade and worked the crime beat for the Los Angeles Times. His debut novel, The Black Echo, won the Edgar book award for best first novel. With his protagonist, a troubled and mercurial Vietnam vet/L.A. homicide detective named Harry Bosch, Connelly had achieved the impossible: he had created a new character and a new franchise in this most-overworked parcel of literary real estate. The subsequent Bosch novels -- The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde, and The Last Coyote -- breathlessly anticipated, proved that we'd pinned our hopes on a winner. Connelly's voice has only grown stronger and more confident with each book.

He's a very cool guy, his books are among the hottest titles out there, and he'll be signing them at Borders, Friday January 26, 7pm.

-- Jesse Sublett