My wife is a fan of Michael Connelly’s cop novels. Amazon has adapted his books and his protagonist (Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch) into an instant video series, a la House of Cards. All the first season’s shows have been released at the same time.
Harry is a hard boiled LAPD homicide detective, played by slender, gray haired, ice-blue eyed Titus Welliver. Titus was an Irish gangster in the Sons of Anarchy series and has been on a plethora of TV ads as well. We watched the first two episodes and I decided about 20 minutes into the first one that I was hooked.
The story line is not unique. Hard boiled detective, in legal trouble, reputation as a gunslinger, former special forces soldier, his captain trying to sink him, a serial killer involved. This is all the stuff of modern cop shows. But the first few episodes are well written, well acted, directed with pace and the supporting characters show signs of become compelling parts of the story.
This is a well done cop show and, importantly, the screenplays are written with Mr. Connelly’s help. As we found with ‘Justified’, which had Elmore Leonard in the creative process (it’s based on his ‘Get Shorty’), Mr. Connelly’s involvement has, so far, rendered the video true to the spirit of his books (as certified by my spouse).
As an add on, I would recommend Justified as well. It’s almost done it’s run. Timothy Olyphant caught my eye on HBO’s Deadwood. Superb acting in both series. It is really an ensemble cast, filled with some outlandish characters that just keep on coming and going. I know a few people who have taken offense because of its setting in rural Kentucky but I have found the folks portrayed to be fully realized and the bad guys mostly clever, crafty and complex. Walton Goggins has had an ongoing role as ‘Boyd Crowder’ and his character is a marvel, really a force of nature.
We have Amazon Prime and the series is gratis if you have that status. As you know, you can watch it on Chromecast, Roku, laptops, Ipads, etc.