In this second book in the 'Catalina' series, Sergeant Stilwell investigates crimes on and off Catalina Island
*****
Detective
Sergeant Stilwell was a homicide investigator for the LAPD before a
departmental dust-up got him transferred to the Sheriff's Department on
the Catalina Island substation - the penalty for troublesome Los Angeles
cops.
Transfer
to Catalina is supposed to be a punishment, but Stilwell, who's now in
charge of the Catalina Island Substation, is VERY happy there. He likes
the environment and he's living with his girlfriend, Natasha (Tash)
Dano, the island's assistant harbormaster.
'Ironwood'
opens in the middle of the night, when Stilwell and two deputy
sheriffs, Isla Ramirez and Alton Quigley, are staked out at Catalina's
mountaintop airstrip. Quigley had received a tip from one of his
mainland confidential informers, who said a plane was coming in tonight,
to make a drug drop. While Stillwell and the deputies watch from a
hidden SVU, a small plane lands and an ATV pulls out of the brush and
follows it down the runway. 
When
a duffel bag is dropped from the plane and picked up by the ATV driver,
Stilwell and his deputies move in. After that, things go terribly
wrong. Following a dramatic chase, the ATV driver escapes, the plane
takes off, Quigley is shot dead, and Ramirez is badly injured.
Stilwell's
boss Captain Corum and a homicide team arrive from Los Angeles, to
examine the crime scene and interview Stilwell. Stilwell is cleared of
blame, but Corum confines Stilwell to the substation while LAPD
detectives investigate. Corum also suggests Stilwell clean up the boxes
of lost and found items cluttering up the substation, to make it look
more professional.
Stilwell is like the Harry Bosch of Catalina Island (if you know who that is).
Stilwell
is NOT about to sit on his thumbs and let Los Angeles detectives
investigate a crime on HIS turf, where HIS deputies were victims. So
Stilwell identifies the ATV driver, finds important clues, and makes
startling discoveries. That's all I'll say about that.
Meanwhile,
Stilwell also starts going through the lost and found items at the
substation, throwing away unclaimed junk. When Stilwell comes across a
backpack found on a bench two months ago, he looks inside for ID. 
A
Medeco key with a locksmith’s stamp leads to Angela Metier, a woman who
disappeared while hiking on Catalina four years ago. This is puzzling:
why would the backpack have been brought in just two months prior?
The
backpack also contains an old Ford car key that didn't belong to
Angela, who drove a Mini Cooper. Thinking something is off here,
Stilwell calls Detective Renée Ballard, who's in charge of the LAPD’s
Open-Unsolved Unit. 
Renée connects the Ford car key to Candace Neary, who was murdered by a serial killer that targets female hikers.
Stilwell
and Ballard conclude the serial killer also murdered Angela Metier, and
purposely left the backback to taunt the police. So Stilwell and
Ballard team up to pursue the perpetrator.
The novel has two fun
cameos: Stilwell hears Harry Bosch's advice to 'always go back to the
murder book'; and Stilwell sees LAPD Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch
(Harry's daughter) when she volunteers for Renée's cold case squad.
Between
working on big murder cases, Stilwell does routine police work on
Catalina Island, related to graffiti and vandalized grape vines. 
Stilwell also spends time with his girlfriend Tash, and they often enjoy dinner and movies together.
The book ends with a cliff-hangar, and I look forward to learning what happens next.
Note:
Stilwell never tells anyone his given name, and always says 'Call me
Stil.' But if you pay close attention, you'll learn his moniker.
I
enjoyed the book but have a small quibble. Stilwell serendipitously
discovers VERY important clues time after time, by chance. This seems
unrealistic. That said, Michael Connelly's books never disappoint, and
I'd highly recommend this novel to mystery fans.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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