History Literature / TheConcreteBlonde

Bosch is sued by the widow of the Dollmaker, a suspected serial killer he shot during a tense standoff some years earlier. Bosch, acting on a tip from a prostitute, entered the Dollmaker's apartment, and shot him after the Dollmaker reached for something under his pillow, which turned out to be a toupee.

The suspect Harry Bosch killed was identified as a man named Norman Church. Makeup from the Dollmaker's victims was found in Church's bathroom, seemingly clinching the case. But Church's widow is suing, and powerhouse attorney Honey Chandler is charging that Bosch shot an innocent man and the LAPD framed him after the fact. Harry is sure that he did in fact get the right man--until a note purportedly from the Dollmaker is delivered to him. The note leads to the discovery of a body, and a crime which matches the Dollmaker's modus operandi, causing Harry to wonder if he really did shoot an innocent man.

* AloneWithThePsycho: The climax has Bosch alone at gunpoint with Bremmer. Bosch has a good reason for this, though: he didn't want to tell anybody about his new suspect, because he'd been wrong twice before with Mora and Locke.
* ArcWords: This novel is the first to refer to Bosch as being on a "mission," which would quickly come to define his character, ultimately being filled out to the characterization of "man on a mission" in ''Literature/ADarknessMoreThanNight''.

** It's established in the first chapter that Bremmer the reporter wrote a book on the Dollmaker case. He's the copycat.
** Bremmer makes a point of telling Bosch that Edgar wasn't his source about the note and the discovery of the Concrete Blonde. He even says "You'd never guess who it was." The answer is that he was his own source because he is the murderer.

** When looking at rows of porn videos trying to find a missing person, Bosch remembers how he once read every name on the Vietnam War memorial for a case.

** Honey Chandler asks Irving about Lewis and Clarke, the InternalAffairs cops who were after Harry Bosch, and Irving says they were "killed in the line of duty". They're killed during the big shootout that is the climax of ''The Black Echo''.

* CourtroomEpisode: ''The Concrete Blonde'' tells the story of when Harry is sued over the Dollmaker case, in which he shot a serial killer who he believed was reaching for a weapon. As the case begins another body turns up.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''The Concrete Blonde'' is both a murder victim found in concrete and the statue of Justice.
* DropDeadGorgeous: Despite being made callous to violence, Bosch is disturbed at the sight of the nude, tortured body of Honey Chandler.
* EvilLawyerJoke: Before the opening statements of Harry Bosch's trial, the judge told the jurors what the attorneys say during those statements wasn't necessarily true since they're lawyers. The judge's accent even makes it sound like "lie-yers".

* GenreSavvy: After being caught by Bosch, when they're alone, and being handcuffed, the killer quickly chafes his wrists abasing the handcuffs so that if Bosch subjects him to a VigilanteExecution, there'll be evidence that he was a helpless prisoner.

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: "Now, who else have you told this crazy story to?" So says Bremmer after Bosch catches him out about the postmark on the envelope.

* InadvertentEntranceCue: The LAPD has come to suspect that Locke the psychologist is the killer. At a crime scene, Edgar says "Too bad Locke's the fucking suspect. It'd be nice to ask him what all this means." The next line is a patrolman alerting Bosch that Locke has come to the crime scene.
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: How Bosch gets Bremmer to confess. He arranges for Bremmer to lift his gun, but what Bremmer doesn't know is that the gun isn't loaded. Thinking he can kill Bosch is what leads Bremmer to admit he's the killer.
* JackTheRipoff: Bosch is puzzled when The Dollmaker, a serial killer that Bosch shot, seems to have become active again. He wonders if he got the wrong man. It turns out this new serial killer is a copycat.

* TitleDrop: [[{{Understatement}} Standard]] for Connelly. Possibly even an artifact title drop: the phrase "the black heart," used frequently in the second half of the book, may be a clue that originally, this book was going to have a different title, one that followed [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming the pattern]] established by ''Literature/TheBlackEcho'' and ''Literature/TheBlackIce''.

* YesMan: A little bit of comic relief in Lt. Hans Rollenberger, who is brought into the Follower investigation after Irving forms a task force. He keeps saying "Good idea, chief!" whenever Irving says anything, and he keeps trying to anticipate what Irving is going to say and getting it wrong.

* YourMom: As soon as the plaster cast of the Concrete Blonde is shown on the news with a request for tips, Edgar is inundated on the phone with people calling in to say "Your mom!"

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Harry's soon-to-be mantra "everybody counts or nobody counts" appears here for the first time, dismissed as "words on the wall at Parker Center." By the next novel, [[RetCon it has become]] the [[CatchPhrase words Harry lives by]].

Plot elements from this novel were used in the first season of the Amazon series ''Series/{{Bosch}}'', while the rest will be adapted into season 7.

Plot elements from this novel were used in the first season of the Amazon series ''Series/{{Bosch}}''.

* AloneWithThePsycho: The climax has Bosch alone at gunpoint with Bremmer.

* ContinuityNod: A few to ''Literature/TheBlackEcho''.

* CallBack: A couple to ''Literature/TheBlackEcho'':
** When looking at rows of porn videos trying to find a missing person, Bosch remembers how he once read every name on the Vietnam War memorial for a case.
** Later, when he's being cross-examined by Honey Chandler, he mentions killing someone during "a murder and robbery investigation with the FBI", another reference to that book.

* ContinuityNod: Bosch's lover runs her hand over the bullet scar on his shoulder, which he acquired during the events of ''Literature/TheBlackEcho''.

* ShoutOut: The titular victim is identified with help from her ''WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam'' tattoo.

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* When looking at rows of porn videos trying to find a missing person, Bosch remembers how he once read every name on the Vietnam War memorial for a case.
* Later, when he's being cross-examined by Honey Chandler, he mentions killing someone during "a murder and robbery investigation with the FBI", another reference to that book.