Michael Connelly - In The Shadow Of The Master - Classic Tales by Edgar Allan Poe

In support of this, Poe attaches a number of footnotes in which he clarifies and annotates the veracity of Pym’s assertions in all of their particulars.

The elaborate and ingenious conceit of this story (which is, by the way, executed with unfaltering confidence) was finally sufficient to arouse my admiration and elevate my prior opinion of Edgar Allan Poe… at least in terms of this one stunning testimonial to his skills. I’m delighted to recommend The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket as exemplary of Poe’s powers of invention. I do this with a clear conscience and in sincere support of this anthology honoring his work. Personal integrity aside, there is one more important point to be made: now Michael Connelly owes me.

Sue Grafton entered the mystery field in 1982 with the publication of “A” Is for Alibi, which introduced female hard-boiled private investigator Kinsey Millhone, who operates out of the fictional town of Santa Teresa (a.k.a. Santa Barbara), California. “B” Is for Burglar followed in 1985, and since then she has added eighteen novels to the series now referred to as “the alphabet mysteries.” At the rate she’s going, she’ll reach “Z” Is for Zero in the year 2020, give or take a decade. She will be much much older than she is now.

MICHAEL CONNELLYis one of the most prolific and bestselling writers of suspense at work today. He lives with his family in Florida.

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Designed by Jennifer Ann Daddio / Bookmark Design & Media Inc. Cover design by Ervin Serrano

Cover illustration created from photograph by Stan Osolinski/Oxford Scientific/Jupiterimages

Interior images from Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Harry Clarke. London: Harrap, 1919. Images obtained from the Rare Book Department, the Free Library of Philadelphia. Reproduction by Will Brown, Will Brown Photographer.

“About Edgar Allan Poe,” copyright © 2009 by Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

“About the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award,” copyright © 2009 by Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

“About the Illustrator,” copyright © 2009 by Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

“What Poe Hath Wrought,” copyright © 2009 by Michael Connelly.

“On Edgar Allan Poe,” copyright © 2009 by T. Jefferson Parker.

“Under the Covers with Fortunato and Montresor,” copyright © 2009 by Jan Burke.

“The Curse of Amontillado,” copyright © 2009 by Lawrence Block.

“Pluto’s Heritage,” copyright © 2009 by P. J. Parrish.

“Identity Crisis,” copyright © 2009 by Lisa Scottoline.

“In a Strange City: Baltimore and the Poe Toaster,” copyright © 2009 by Laura Lippman.

“Once Upon a Midnight Dreary,” copyright © 2009 by Michael Connelly.

“The Thief,” copyright © 2009 by Laurie R. King.

“Poe and Me at the Movies,” copyright © 2009 by Tess Gerritsen, Inc.

“The Genius of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ ” copyright © 2009 by Stephen King.

“The First Time,” copyright © 2009 by Steve Hamilton.

“The Pit, the Pendulum, and Perfection,” copyright © 2009 by Patricia M. Hoch.

“The Pit and the Pendulum at the Palace,” copyright © 2009 by Peter Robinson.

“Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and Me,” copyright © 2009 by S. J. Rozan.

“The Quick and the Undead,” copyright © 2009 by Nelson DeMille.

“Imagining Edgar Allan Poe,” copyright © 2009 by Sara Paretsky.

“Rantin’ and Ravin’,” copyright © 2009 by Joseph Wambaugh.

“A Little Thought on Poe,” copyright © 2009 by Thomas H. Cook.

“Poe in G Minor,” copyright © 2009 by Jeffery W. Deaver.

“How I Became an Edgar Allan Poe Convert,” copyright © 2009 by Sue Grafton.

Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing – a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.

After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times , one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.

After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo , based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly followed up with three more Bosch books, The Black Ice , The Concrete Blonde , and The Last Coyote , before publishing The Poet in 1996-a thriller with a newspaper reporter as a protagonist. In 1997, he went back to Bosch with Trunk Music , and in 1998 another non-series thriller, Blood Work , was published. It was inspired in part by a friend's receiving a heart transplant and the attendant "survivor's guilt" the friend experienced, knowing that someone died in order that he have the chance to live. Connelly had been interested and fascinated by those same feelings as expressed by the survivors of the plane crash he wrote about years before. The movie adaptation of Blood Work was released in 2002, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.

Connelly's next book, Angels Flight , was released in 1999 and was another entry in the Harry Bosch series. The non-series novel Void Moon was released in 2000 and introduced a new character, Cassie Black, a high-stakes Las Vegas thief. His 2001 release, A Darkness More Than Night , united Harry Bosch with Terry McCaleb from Blood Work , and was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Los Angeles Times .

In 2002, Connelly released two novels. The first, the Harry Bosch book City Of Bones , was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times . The second release was a stand-alone thriller, Chasing The Dime , which was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Los Angeles Times .

Lost Light was published in 2003 and named one of the Best Books of 2003 by the Los Angeles Times . It is another in the Harry Bosch series but the first written in first person. To celebrate its release, Michael produced the limited edition jazz CD, Dark Sacred Night, The Music Of Harry Bosch . This CD is a compilation of the jazz music mentioned in the Bosch novels and was given away to his readers on Michael's 2003 book tour.

Connelly's 2004 novel, The Narrows , is the sequel to The Poet . It was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Los Angeles Times . To accompany this Harry Bosch novel, Little, Brown and Company Publishers released a limited edition DVD, Blue Neon Night: Michael Connelly's Los Angeles . In this film, Michael Connelly provides an insider's tour of the places that give his stories and characters their spark and texture.