The Closers - Michael Connelly

From the Yemen to Los Angeles, for a rendezvous with Harry Bosch, himself returned to the LAPD and working alongside former cop partner Kiz Rider. This time round they are part of the Open-Unsolved Unit, doing what Harry and Kiz do best: solving old, cold cases - in this case, the murder of Becky Verloren, a high school student, 17 years previously.

Connelly's novel brings in the racial tensions of the late 1980s, in particular the institutional racism characterised by the police beating of Rodney King and the resultant race riots of 1992. Did the initial investigators deliberately overlook the fact that Becky was the daughter of a white mother and a black father, or were they persuaded to look elsewhere by Harry's nemesis, Irvin Irving?

There's also Becky's secret abortion to explain and the exact role petty criminal Roland Mackey played in 1988 - scientific advances have allowed the police to identify his DNA from a skin sample caught in the trigger of the gun that killed Becky.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Closers - Michael Connelly