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Trunk Music

Michael Connelly's "Trunk Music" refers to a mafia term. When you put a human in your trunk, then shoot the human in the head.....you're making "trunk music."


A body is discovered in a trunk. Los Angeles Detective Harry Bosch interviews the widow--and learns that the deceased had some shadowy business in Las Vegas. Later, having traveled to that town, Bosch explores a culture of casinos and strip clubs ("Dolly's on Madison"). 


Some lessons.....


P***sy dust" is glitter that you apply before a "lap dance" -- but if it gets on the "patron"'s khakis, then a marital fight might follow. If your valet is "Gussie," it may not be because he was born "August"; the name might refer to the valet's habit of getting "gussied up." A main goal, if you're working in a strip club, is to sell many, many glasses of overpriced champagne; that's where (some of) the major profits are.


Michael Connelly is so smart, almost every scene has a little surprise. Men confuse two workers at the club, Randy and Rhonda--and this confusion is both a source of absurd humor and a comment on the currents of power/oppression running through this world. A mug of pens--missing from a desk--proves to be a major turning point in a case. One possible form of money-laundering: Give your cash to a friend who makes cheap soft-core porn, and he'll re-package the cash as "filming expenses."


I always love Michael Connelly. He realized in college that he wanted to be Raymond Chandler, so he bought and read all the Chandler books, and he hasn't looked back. I found a recommendation for "Trunk Music" in a piece praising "Concrete Blonde"--so "Concrete Blonde" is likely where I'm headed next. It's a relief and a pleasure to be transported to Connelly's gritty, fascinating Los Angeles (and, in this case, Vegas, too).

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