Michael Connelly

This is an ABC podcast.

I think I'm a student of Los Angeles.

I became a writer largely because of the works of Raymond Chandler.

Before I start writing a book every year, I always reread Chapter 13 of The Little Sister because it has nothing to do with the plot of the...

book you don't have to reread the whole book to read chapter 13 it's just his character Marlo taking a drive around Los Angeles and I think that was printed in 1939 and it still captures the essence of Los Angeles so he achieved to me a rare level of art in his book in his description of Los Angeles there that still inspires me every time I try to do my own take on Los Angeles

Thanks for having me.

I see that and I have to say that doesn't bother me at all.

That's pretty amazing.

Oh, thanks very much.

I think, you know, it doesn't wash it all away.

I think, you know, these characters, you know, carry a lot of that darkness in them, and that's, you know, that's their lot in life.

That's the noble bargain that they make.

But the sea is renewal for her, you know, and she operates under that phrase that stays with her from her long-lost father that, you know, salt water cures everything.

And so she's drawn to the sea in the mornings after she's put a...

you know, a night in the darkness in.

Yeah, I write like I read.

I love that stuff when I come across it in a book.

And, you know, these aha moments.

And in a way, they're little rewards for sticking with an author, you know.

And I've always liked that as a reader.