The black echo (1992)

Harry Bosch recognises a man found dead in a Los Angeles drainpipe as a fellow Vietnam veteran. Connelly makes the investigation personal without allowing the detective's history to replace the work of following evidence. Bosch's stubbornness, distrust of authority and uneasy working alliances are already sharply defined. Start the Bosch novels here for a substantial first case with its own momentum; the long series has room to complicate a character who is compelling from the outset.