Reader’s Digest
6 march 2019 | rd.com
fromtop:^matthewcohen.mike^ mcgregorDEAR 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 seeBruce Kelley,
editor-in-chiefTruly 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].