Readers Guide to Nightshade

In Nightshade, Stilwell reflects that you never know when bad luck or bad news are coming:

“Just the year before, there had been a story out of Los Angeles about a so-called amateur sleuth who ended up shot to death in her home office’s closet.”

Me: what? He’s talking about Colleen !!

Remember, Colleen Hatteras, the genealogy researcher who is helping Ballard with a case? Poor Colleen, that was so terrible!

Spoilers for Nightshade

These will not be as long as usual. Sorry – I got this advance copy at the last minute and just want to get this post out!

There are several crimes Stilwell is handling in the book:

1. the assault of Deputy Dunne by a guy named Merris Spivak as Dunne broke up a bar fight. Spivak is being held at the police substation, or “sub” during most of the book.
2. the investigation of a body found at the harbor. It’s a young woman with a purples streak in her hair, and she’s wrapped in canvas and weighted down by an anchor.
3. the theft of a marlin statue from the Black Marlin Club, a private club on Catalina Island
4. the mutilation of a buffalo, which Stilwell has connected to a mystery tour company on the island

Stilwell is told by Corum, his boss in L.A., to stay out of the murder investigation and tend to the robbery and assault cases.

But as Stilwell investigates the theft of the statue, he also finds the identity of the victim, Leigh-Anne Moss, an employee of the Black Marlin Club who was fired for flirting with the customers.

Using the CCTV from the harbor provided by his girlfriend, Tash (the harbor master) he finds another boat that was in the vicinity at the time he suspects the body was dumped: the Emerald Sea.

When he learns that Leigh-Anne died of blunt force trauma, he suspects the missing marlin statue was probably the murder weapon.

He gets access to the Emerald Sea, and finds that a drawstring bag from a sail has been replaced, and mop head and bottle of cleaning fluid are missing.

Stilwell conveys this theory to the team in LA and fills them in. He talks to a former roommate of Leigh-Anne’s and gets a box of her things, which include gifts from several men.

Back to the buffalo case:

The missing witness to the buffalo incident, Henry Gaston, turns up and is ready to flip on his boss, Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova. Terranova seemed to have ordered Gaston to kill the buffalo to drum up more business for his mystery tour business, and has also paid bribes to the mayor, Doug Allen.

Stilwell holds Gaston at the police substation while he meets with Monika, the DA, who wants to try to get Terranova to testify about corruption.

When Stilwell returns from a meeting with the DA, Spivak has escaped, Gaston is dead, and the deputy in charge is unconscious.

Stilwell realizes that Spivak staged the bar fight so he’d be in jail when they brought Gaston in. It was a planned hit. When Corum tells Stilwell he’s going to let people think Gaston’s death was just an collateral damage of the jailbreak, Stilwell leaks the truth to a local reporter.

Spivak kidnaps Tash. Luckily, Stilwell is able to track her through her phone, which her captor uses to call Stilwell.

He frees her and kills Spivak. Tash puts Spivak’s gun on the floor next to him to better justify the shooting.

Back to Leigh-Anne’s Case

Stilwell goes to talk to Daniel Easterbrook, one of her sugar daddies. He was in love with her and is distraught by her death. He called her “Nightshade” because that was the name of the dye she used to put purple streaks in her hair.

Stilwell has realized that the DA, Monika, knew Spivak from her old neighborhood, and that she must have leaked to Spivak and Terranova.

Stilwell tells the LA team that he does not think Easterbrook killed Leigh-Anne. But when Easterbrook takes his own life, the LA team announces that he killed her, annoying Stilwell.

Monika arranges a meeting with Terranova, who has recordings of his plotting with Mayor Allen.

Stilwell sets up another sting against Charles Crane, the manager of the Black Marlin Club, whom he suspects of Leigh-Anne’s murder. He arrests Crane.

Mayor Allen is indicted on conspiracy to commit murder, and Stilwell also arrests him.

The Ending of Nightshade by Michael Connelly Explained (or not?)

Thanks to Bonnie in comments for pointing out the somewhat cryptic ending. Let’s discuss it!

Who is the second person being transported in the helicopter at the very end of Nightshade?

Before the mayor’s indictment, Stilwell tells his boss Corum that he has two suspects and will need a helicopter to fly them both back to L.A. to be booked.

Stillwell then arrests Mayor Allen and tells his officers “hold the takeoff until I get there with the other custody.” McKay (the reporter) asks “who’s the other custody?” and Stilwell doesn’t answer.

Who is the other person being transported?

I think it’s Charles Crane.

• In his conversation with Corum, Stilwell suggests that the second person in the chopper is someone he arrested for Leigh-Ann Moss’s murder.
• Stilwell also reflects that he needs to prepare arrest documentation for both Crane and Allen.
• Besides that, everyone else is dead (Spivak, Gaston) or cooperating with a deal (Terranova).

The only problem with that is that Stilwell told Crane that his case will be going to Judge Harrell on Catalina island.

My only other guess would be Monika, but she was already in LA handling the mayor’s grand jury session.

Why is Stilwell so mysterious about the second arrest with Lionel McKey? Why is he sending Crane to L.A?

If you have theories (or evidence I missed!) please leave them in comments!