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The Last Coyote 1

The Last Coyote

The Last Coyote

Author Michael Connelly

Country United States

Language English

Series Harry Bosch, #4

Genre Crime novel

Publisher Little, Brown and Company

Publication date June 1. 1995

Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback)

Pages 400

ISBN 0-316-15390-7

OCLC Number31167315

[1]

Dewey Decimal 813/.54 20

LC Classification PS3553.O51165 L37 1995

Preceded by The Concrete Blonde

Followed by Trunk Music

The Last Coyote is the fourth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, featuring the Los Angeles

detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It was first published in 1995 and the novel won the 1996 Dilys Award given

by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Explanation of the novel's title

Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch has seen and then dreamt about a lone coyote near his home in the hills near Los

Angeles and discusses it during a departmental required therapy session. The psychologist interprets it that Bosch

believes that there are not many policeman like himself left and that he feels the same threat to his existence as the

coyote.

Plot summary

Bosch is involved in an incident at work and has been put on involuntary stress leave. He must go through therapy

sessions to be able to return to work. This involves talking about the incident and himself with Carmen Hinojos, a

police psychologist. Three months ago, Bosch broke up with his girlfriend, Sylvia Moore. Carmen asks Harry to

verbalize his mission in life. Harry decides that his mission is to investigate his mother's murder. She had been a

prostitute and was strangled when Harry was twelve. He gets the murder book from the police archives and reviews

the case. He first goes tovisit Meredith Roman, another prostitute who was his mother's best friend at the time. The

one real piece of information the Bosch gets from her is something that she did not tell the police: his mother was

going to meet Arno Conklin at Hancock Park on the night of the murder. Bosch, with the help of the new cop

beat/LA Times reporter, investigates Fox, Conklin, and Conklin's close associate Mittel. He discovers that Fox was

killed in a hit and run while distributing campaign literature for Conklin. Conklin had been running for DistrictAttorney. He also learns from an old cop friend that Mittel is now a very successful lawyer and campaign fund

raiser. He is currently helping Robert Shepard, a computer tycoon, run for the Senate. On a whim, Harry drives to

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hancock_Park%2C_Los_Angeles%2C_Californiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hit_and_run_%28vehicular%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=District_Attorneyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=District_Attorneyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=District_Attorneyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hit_and_run_%28vehicular%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hancock_Park%2C_Los_Angeles%2C_Californiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coyotehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dilys_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1995_in_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Boschhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Connellyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trunk_Music_%28novel%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Concrete_Blondehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Library_of_Congress_Classificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dewey_Decimal_Classificationhttp://worldcat.org/oclc/31167315http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OCLChttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Booksources/0-316-15390-7http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Standard_Book_Numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paperbackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hardcoverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crime_novelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Boschhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Connelly

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Shepard's house and ends up attending a fund-raising party. He meets Mittel and, using the name of his boss Pounds,

asks a waitress at the party to deliver an envelope to Mittel. In the envelope, Harry puts a copy of a newspaper article

about Fox's death and circles the names Conklin, Mittel, and Fox. He writes under the article, "What prior work

experience got Johnny his job?" Harry checks with the city offices and finds out that only one of the original

investigating officers is still alive and that his retirement checks are mailed to a post office box in Florida. So he

takes a plane to Florida to speak with the retired detective, Jack McKittrick. He learns from him that at the beginning

of the investigation, his senior partner, Eno, was called into the Assistant DA's office and told that Fox was not

involved with the murder and he should not be investigated by the department. The only way they could interview

him was in Conklin's office. After that interview, the investigation went nowhere and was left as an unsolved case.

In order to gain entrance to the gated community where McKittrick lives, Bosch pretends he is interested in a house

for sale in the community and tours the house briefly. He goes back to the house after leaving McKittrick and

eventually has a romantic encounter with the woman who owns the house, Jasmine Corian. He spends an extra day

in Florida with Jasmine, and they reveal many personal secrets to each other in bed. On his way back to Los Angel,

he stops in Las Vegas to visit the widow of the other detective, Eno. He intimidates the widow's sister, who is taking

care of the ninety year old invalid, into letting him take some of Eno's old files. From the files, he discovers that Eno

had been receiving $1000 a week through a dummy corporation since one year after his mother's murder. He learnsthat this corporation's officers were Eno, Gordon Mittel, and Arno Conklin. When he returns to Los Angeles, there

are four Los Angeles Police Department cops are waiting for him inside his home. While he was in Florida, his boss,

Harvey Pounds was found dead in the trunk of his car, tortured. Bosch is brought to the Parker Center for

questioning. Harry realizes that when he used Pounds' name when trying to scare Mittel at the Shepard fund-raiser, it

led to his death. Harry learns from LA Times reporter Keisha Russell that the writer of the article on Fox was Monte

Kim. Russell gives Bosch his address obtained from the phone book. Bosch visits Kim and learns that he wrote the

article on Fox's death, ignoring the illegal activities in his past in order to obtain a job with Conklin. Kim had photos

of Conklin and Fox with two woman (Meredith Roman and Bosch's mother) and used them to blackmail Conklin to

obtain the job.

Bosch, believing that he finally has enough information to confront Conklin, visits him in his nursing home and

discovers that Conklin was actually in love with Bosch's mother. On the day that she was murdered, they decided to

go to Las Vegas and get married. Conklin had called Mittel to ask him to go with them to be his best man. Mittel

declined and told him that marrying her would ruin his career. Conklin believes that Mittel murdered Bosch's

mother. After leaving Conklin, Bosch is hit with a tire iron when trying to get in his car and awakes at Mittel's house

with his head bleeding, locked in a game room. Before Mittel's enforcer can arrive, Bosch pockets a billiard ball that

he hopes to use as a weapon. Mittel tells Bosch that Conklin has conveniently jumped out of the window of his room

right after Bosch left. So the last loose end for him to clean up is Bosch. After Bosch tells him that he left his

briefcase with his evidence in Conklin's room, Mittel nods to Jonathan to finish off Bosch. But Bosch makes

Jonathan miss, hits him with the billiard ball, and eventually knock him out. Mittel runs off, and Bosch follows.

Mittel attempts to ambush Bosch and in the struggle, Mittell fall off a cliff and dies. Bosch returns to the house but

cannot locate Jonathan. The police arrive, and Bosch next wakes up in the emergency room. Bosch realizes that he

can prove that Mittel killed his mother by checking his fingerprints against the print found on the belt that killed his

mother. He obtains the prints from the medical examiner's office but they do not match. Bosch has gone through all

of this and still has not found his mother's killer.

He returns to talk to Hinojos. During this meeting, she gives Bosch her opinion on the photos from his mother's

crime scene. She noticed that his mother was wearing all gold jewelry and the belt that was used to kill her was

silver, which is a combination which a woman would not normally wear. Bosch's mother might not have been

wearing the belt. The killer may have been wearing the belt and used it to kill his mother. Bosch believes he finally

knows who killed his mother and returns to Meredith Roman's house, only to find that several days before she

committed suicide. She left Bosch a note trying to explain her actions. He calls 911 and is about to leave when

Jonathan confronts him with a gun. He had been waiting for him, letting him find Meredith and the letter. Since

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Jonathan believes he is going to kill Bosch and escape, he tells him the truth: that in actuality, he is Johnny Fox. His

death was faked, and he remained with Mittel as his bodyguard. It was Fox who had killed Pounds and Conklin. The

police finally arrive, and Fox is shot while trying to escape.

Characters in The Last Coyote

Carmen Hinojos

Psychologist for the Los Angeles Police Department

Meredith Roman Prostitute friend of Bosch's mother

Keisha Russell Reporter for theLos Angeles Times

Lieutenant Harvey "Ninety-Eight" Pounds Bosch's supervisor

Jerry Edgar Bosch's partner

Irvin Irving Assistant Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department

Arno Conklin Former District Attorney

Gordon Mittel Lawyer

Jake McKittrick detective who investigated the murder of Bosch's mother.

Jasmine Corian A painter with whom Harry becomes romantically involved with during a trip to Florida.

Monte Kim

formerLos Angeles Times reporter

Reception

The Library Journal said that The Last Coyote had "prose that cuts to the quick, a masterfully interwoven plot and

gripping suspense".

Awards and nominations

The Last Coyote won the 1996 Dilys Award given by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association

The Last Coyote was a nominee for the 1996 Anthony Award, the 1996 Macavity Award and the 1996 Hammett

Prize.

Notes

[1] http://worldcat.org/oclc/31167315

http://worldcat.org/oclc/31167315http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hammett_Prizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hammett_Prizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Macavity_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anthony_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dilys_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Library_Journalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeles_Timeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeles_Police_Departmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeles_Timeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeles_Police_Department

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Article Sources and Contributors 4

Article Sources and ContributorsThe Last Coyote Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=554985024 Contributors: Al Pereira, Aristophanes68, Blehfu, Captain-tucker, Download, Edward, GrahamHardy, Henry

Merrivale, Hgsippe Cormier, JaGa, Jburn79, Look2See1, Miller17CU94, Nikthestunned, Ntsimp, Otownfla, Rjwilmsi, TexasAndroid, Tonyfuchs1019, Toughpigs, W^5D0-M, 7 anonymous

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