Reader

Reader’s Digest

6 march 2019 | rd.com

fr

om

to

p:^

ma

tt

he

w

co

he

n.

m

ik

e^ m

cg

re

go

r

DEAR READER

I

’m lying in bed reading and again

imagining myself as Harry Bosch.

Make no mistake; I’d never want

to be Harry Bosch. After all, he’s an

orphan and a troubled Vietnam vet

who toils as a homicide detective on

LA’s grittiest streets. Yet as I read, I wish

I knew what he knows, or at least

had his presence of mind.

Bosch is the ruminative, un-

relenting star of ex-journalist

Michael Connelly’s crime fic-

tion books and, frankly, one

of my guides to the moral

universe. After reading the

umpteen Bosch books

we’ve published in Select

Editions over time, I see

Bruce Kelley,

editor-in-chief

Truly True

Crime

him as the ultimate wounded war-

rior fighting for redemption—for LA’s

down-and-out and for himself. “Every-

body counts,” he says, “or nobody

counts.” As he quietly struggles to raise

a teenage daughter while corralling his

partners and fellow former tunnel rats

to help him with his often-grueling

investigations, his history leaves him

with no means of coping beyond the

haunted self-sufficiency that I admire

from my comfy bed.

A lot of you, I know, love true crime

stories. RD has always featured them;

this issue, we bring you a piece from

the Marshall Project and Frontline

that sheds chilling new light on DNA’s

value as evidence. But for crime that

is somehow truer than true, I recom-

mend Select Editions.

Every volume contains four com-

pelling, quick-read novels. Invariably

one or two feature a complex law-

enforcement character—such as Kate

Burkholder in author Linda Castillo’s

books about the Amish of Ohio; Mike

Bowditch, writer Paul Doiron’s Maine

game warden; or my old friend Harry—

wrestling with authentic, deeply re-

searched issues of the heart.

If you’re interested, go to

selecteditions.com/rdmar19.

We have a good offer there. And

thanks, as always, for reading.

Write to me at

[email protected].