Title: IRONWOOD Catalina #2
Author: MICHAEL CONNELLY
ISBN: 9781398726758
Publisher: Orion Books
Pages: 325
Source: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Sworn to protect a scenic island meant to be far from the evils of the mainland, Detective Sergeant Stilwell can feel danger closing in.
Detective Sergeant Stilwell knows that his posting on Catalina Island is no paradise, but to most residents, it seems blissfully separated—by twenty-two miles of ocean—from the troubles of Los Angeles County. But now a threat is coming to his safe haven.
Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, Stilwell and his deputies watch a plane land in the middle of the night at the Airport in the Sky, a remote airstrip in the mountains. A duffel bag of drugs is dropped and the deputies move in, but things quickly go sideways. While Stilwell chases the fleeing pickup man into the mountainside brush, shots are fired on the runway and the plane flies off.
An internal inquiry follows, putting Stilwell on the bench until he is cleared of responsibility for the disastrous operation. But he is determined to find out who brought deadly violence to his island, and begins his own secret investigation into the drug deal gone wrong.
While under orders to remain in the sheriff’s substation, he finds in the lost and found a valuable backpack that was never claimed. He traces it to a woman who disappeared while hiking on the island four years ago. But then why was the pack only turned in two months back? Now thoroughly intrigued, he follows the mystery all the way to the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit and Detective Renée Ballard.
Stilwell and Ballard work the case from both sides of the channel, and soon realize they are on the trail of a criminal who revels in taunting the authorities. Meanwhile, frustrated at being shut out of an investigation on his own island, Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the department to pursue a case whose reach is wider than he ever imagined.
Official Summary
30 July 2026
I have not read a Michael Connelly novel in ages, and Ironwood reminded me exactly why I enjoy his writing so much. Thank you to Jonathan Ball Publishers for providing me with a review copy.
Of course, I managed to start the series with book two—just for a change! (I did, however, begin book one, Nightshade, immediately after finishing this one.)
I loved the island setting, which gives the novel a more relaxed atmosphere than the gritty police procedurals Connelly is best known for. It was a refreshing change of pace while still delivering the compelling investigation and strong character work I expect from his books.
Detective Stilwell is a fantastic new addition to Connelly’s cast of recurring characters, and I can easily see him becoming a fan favourite. I also enjoyed Ballard’s role in the story, while the appearances by Harry and Maddy Bosch added a welcome sense of familiarity for long-time readers.
I raced through this book in a single day. It is a fast-paced, twisty crime novel with plenty happening, and there is rarely a dull moment. Even when some of the scene-setting occasionally felt a little more detailed than necessary, the story never lost its momentum.
Interestingly, I found myself completely engrossed while I was reading, but once I turned the final page, the story didn’t linger in my mind as much as I expected. There wasn’t much left for me to puzzle over or revisit afterwards. That is not necessarily a criticism—it was simply a book that excelled in the moment rather than one that stayed with me long after I had finished it.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Ironwood and happily awarded it four stars. It was an engrossing, entertaining crime novel that kept me hooked from beginning to end, and I am already looking forward to catching up on the rest of this series.
Also By Michael Connelly
THE PROVING GROUND
Mickey Haller – The Lincoln Lawyer – leaves criminal court behind for his first civil lawsuit. But to him, this is still a murder trial.
An AI company’s chatbot encouraged a sixteen-year-old boy to kill his ex-girlfriend. Can Haller prove the company knew the dangers of its own creation?
To do so, he turns to Jack McEvoy – a journalist who knows how powerful the coming wave will be – and together they soon uncover a whistleblower in hiding.
As the tech titans try to buy or bully their way out, the scale of their courtroom battle before them becomes clear. Because billions are at stake – along with countless lives – in an all or nothing case, which could change everything.
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA, on July 21, 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12 years old. Michael 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.
Michael is the bestselling author of forty-two novels and one work of non-fiction. With over ninety million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent New York Times bestsellers include The Waiting, Resurrection Walk, Desert Star, The Dark Hours, The Law Of Innocence, The Night Fire, and Dark Sacred Night. Michael’s crime fiction career was honored with the Diamond Dagger from the CWA in 2018, and the Outstanding Contribution To Crime Writing Award at the 2022 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England, and the Grand Master title from the Mystery Writers of America in 2023.
Thank you for visiting the blog. This is my last review for July, I will share my review of Nightshade early in August, so visit again for that. Until next time…. Happy Reading!
