The Next L.A. Reading List

Michael Connelly is a Los Angeles mystery writer and Edgar Award winner whose stories evoke the city in all of its complexity. His most recent book is “The Poet,” a novel about a serial killer who preys on detectives. “Trunk Music,” to be published in January, will feature the return of fictional LAPD Det. Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch.

“If I were to recommend five books as a primer on Los Angeles, I would start with Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Little Sister’ (Houghton Mifflin, 1949) for its take on the city and its arrogant entertainment industry. Many of the observations are still on point today. Chapter 13 is just a drive through town--from Hollywood to the Valley to Malibu--but it is Chandler at his cynical best and my favorite passage.

“From there I would read ‘Rivers in the Desert’ by Margaret Leslie Davis (HarperCollins, 1993), a recent and intriguing biography of William Mulholland and the real founding of today’s city. (Then I would rent the classic film ‘Chinatown’ at the video store for a fictional take on it).

“Another good read is ‘Los Angeles in Fiction,’ edited by David Fine (University of New Mexico Press, 1995), with its intuitive essays on a wide range of L.A. voices, from Nathanael West and John Fante to John Gregory Dunne and Walter Mosley.

“Next on the list would be what I’m reading right now. Gar Anthony Haywood’s latest crime novel, ‘It’s Not a Pretty Sight’ (Putnam, 1996). This is Los Angeles post-Rodney King and post-O.J., and Haywood explores many of the compelling issues facing our divided city. He writes about South-Central [Los Angeles], a place where most writers don’t venture by pen or person.

“Finally, to make sure nobody takes this place too seriously, my last choice would be ‘The Best of Only in L.A.’ (Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 1996), by Steve Harvey. A chronicle of the best pieces from his long-running newspaper column, the book serves to remind Angelenos that while we may indeed have front row seats to the apocalypse, there is still always a lighter side to the slide.”