Michael Connelly hits No. 1 with 'The Late Show'

Here’s a look at what’s new on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list…

A hit 'Show': If Michael Connelly harbored any doubts whether hard-core Harry Bosch fans would follow him as he introduced a new cop heroine, they should be allayed by the performance of The Late Show (Little, Brown).

The thriller, starring LAPD Detective Renée Ballard and released on July 18, lands at No. 1. (The full list will be published on Thursday.)

"It is extremely gratifying to hit that spot with a new character,” Connelly tells USA TODAY. “I have high hopes for Renée Ballard’s literary life and it can’t start out better than the top of USA TODAY’s best-seller list.”

The Late Show is Connelly’s 30th novel but the first to feature Ballard, who is banished to the Hollywood night shift after her sexual harassment complaint against a male supervisor goes nowhere. In The New York Times, reviewer Janet Maslin called Ballard a “terrific female character... Smart and fierce, she never stops working, to the point of making Bosch look like a slouch.”

The Late Show is Connelly’s second novel to hit No. 1 but the first to make its debut in the top spot. The Wrong Side of Goodbye, a Bosch novel, landed at No. 2 on Nov. 10, 2016 and then hit No. 1 on Jan. 5, 2017.

In a #BookmarkThis interview with USA TODAY on Facebook Live July 18, Connelly said it was a “big deal” for him when Goodbye hit No. 1, proving the enduring popularity of Bosch, a now-retired LAPD homicide detective and inspiration for the Amazon Prime series.

There’s more Bosch to come this year. On Oct. 31 Connelly will publish Two Kinds of Truth, in which Harry is back volunteering for the San Fernando Police Department when he’s called to a drug store where a pharmacist has been murdered.

In his Facebook Live interview with USA TODAY, Connelly gave a hint of what’s in store for Ballard, and readers will find it in Two Kinds of Truth. The new Bosch thriller, he said, “has a seed planted in it for another Ballard book. It’s not a Bosch and Ballard thing, but if you’re paying close attention it’s just a little reference that next year you might be reading more.”

That's good news for those of us who loved The Late Show.