Monthly Archives: June 2019

June 24, 2019 · 4:25 am

There’s a real-life Michael Connelly character in the LAPD, and she’s gunning for Harry Bosch’s job – Los Angeles Times

Mitzi Roberts always wanted to talk to serial killers.

A Los Angeles bartender and diner manager, Roberts was used to seeing cops stagger into her establishments, seeking a bite or a beer after their shift. Conversation between the investigators and Roberts, a self-described true-crime “fanatic,” came easily.

She told them of her desire to chase predators. At some point, one of them suggested a career change.

The move from diner manager to detective set Roberts on a career path that saw her climb the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department — from a graveyard shift that is sometimes home to cops who have “screwed up” to a treasured spot in the elite Robbery-Homicide Division. After years spent fighting an uphill battle as a woman traversing a department long regarded as a boys’ club, Roberts found herself zipping around the southeastern United States on a collision course with one of America’s most prolific killers.

The veteran detective’s career history may read like it borrows a bit from the jacket copy of a popular crime novel, but it’s actually the other way around. In her 24-year career, Roberts has not only found herself involved in some of L.A.’s most infamous cases, but she’s also served as a muse to the city’s modern master of detective fiction.

In recent years, Roberts became the inspiration for Renee Ballard, the newest protagonist to grace the pages of Michael Connelly’s bestselling novels. Ballard — a Hollywood Division detective exiled from Robbery-Homicide who shares Roberts’ real-life love of surfing, knack for swift verbal jabs and dogged dedication to the job — is more than just a passing interest for Connelly. According to the author, Ballard could one day replace Harry Bosch, the beleaguered LAPD detective who appears in 22 of his novels.

swift verbal jabs and dogged dedication to the job — is more than just a passing interest for Connelly. According to the author, Ballard could one day replace Harry Bosch, the beleaguered LAPD detective who appears in 22 of his novels.

Source: There’s a real-life Michael Connelly character in the LAPD, and she’s gunning for Harry Bosch’s job – Los Angeles Times

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Tagged as character building, harry bosch, Michael Connelly, mitzi roberts, Monday, renee ballard

June 24, 2019 · 3:22 am

Monday morning writing joke: “Absurdity”

There one day was a poet of the absurd

Who one day gave her word.

She’d tell it straight one day

Come what May

Or the one day she became a bird.

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Tagged as absurd, bird, David E. Booker, joke, limerick, May, Monday, poem, poet, poetry, word, writing humor

June 17, 2019 · 2:37 am

Monday morning writing joke: “Adverse circumstances”

There once was a writer of verse

Who had a wish so perverse.

He put pen to paper

And hoped he’d become Satyr,

But what he became was even much worse.

He had hooves, horns, and some hide

Enough to frighten his would-be bride.

When he glanced in the mirror,

He couldn’t have looked any queerer

Even with the nannies by his side.

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Tagged as David E. Booker, goat, joke, limerick, Monday, poem, poet, poetry, pun, satyr, verse, writing humor

June 15, 2019 · 5:48 pm

Book Review: “Drama: An Actor’s Education”

Drama: An Actor’s Education by John Lithgow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to the author perform this book, and it was a good choice. John Lithgow is fine actor who can, by turns, be serious and funny. And by turns, so is this memoir and hearing a practiced performer read his own interesting and entertaining book as an extra dimension.

This is a book as much about Lithgow’s father as about himself. His father was an actor and theater entrepreneur, though like most entrepreneurs, Lithgow’s father had many downs or wrong turns. Lithgow learned many things from moving from place to place with his peripatetic family: how to be an “actor” to try to fit into his new schools, what it was like to be lonely, the need for approval to the point that you give up maybe too much of yourself, but also discovering his passion for performing, following in his father’s footsteps, and succeeding in many ways that his father did not.

As with most memoirs, it skips over parts of his life, parts, such as his relationship with his older brother, that I wanted to know a little more about. And also, the memoir doesn’t include any experiences involving what many folks may know him best for: the character of Dr. Solomon on Third Rock From the Sun. But even with these omissions, I highly recommend this memoir, and it really deserves 4.5 stars, but I’m not allowed to do half stars. Thank you, Mr. Lithgow for writing this book and for providing the dramatic reading for the audio version.

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