Breakaway Books

Authored by Michael Connelly; Published May 2025; Mystery

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️

Nightshade is fine. I wish I could come up with something more insightful to say about it, but to me, it came off as a very standard procedural mystery.

Nightshade follows Sheriff Stilwell, who has been banished to Catalina Island after a confrontation with a fellow homicide detective on the mainland. Stilwell has taken nicely to his new home, adjusting to the rhythm of the beach town’s court schedule and the severity of its crime, but the murder of a buffalo and then a young waitress puts a screeching halt to the town’s normal groove. Now Sheriff Stilwell must gently wade back into California local politics to solve the murder while not angering too many folks in the LA Police Department.

The most compelling part of this novel is the interlocking set of crimes on the island that Stilwell calls home. Relatively isolated, he encounters a limited number of serious crimes and a very limited pool of suspects, which may lead the reader to believe that the mysteries Stilwell solves over the course of the novel have easy solutions, but they fit together in interesting and unpredictable ways. Nevertheless, there is a serious shortage of drama on this island: Events that normally cause quite a stir seem to be dealt with easily and with little hubbub—events as serious as a corrupt prosecutor and a kidnapping. For me, it was strange to observe Stilwell seemingly reacting more strongly to a rival cop’s jeers than to his girlfriend missing in action.

I do like to feel some sort of emotional connection to my characters, even if they are just characters in a standard mystery. Character development is not what this story is about. But, that may not be a problem at all for you as a reader, and this book checks a lot of the mystery boxes, particularly if you like police officers who take matters into their own hands rather than doing exactly the right thing procedurally. Stilwell is not overly concerned with following the rules set forth by his captain, and he’s not scared to go into dangerous situations by himself if he judges it to be the right move. He may be a little cavalier, but not to a degree that struck me as distracting—or even unrealistic.

Pick up Nightshade if you’re in the mood for a no attachment, no-introspection-needed crime novel. If a standard mystery is what you need, this will fit the bill.