Beverly Hills Safe & Lock

The institution on Wilshire Blvd. in which Nguyen Tran stores his illegal cache of diamonds, the BHS&L and the tunnels beneath it provide the novel's dénouement. Protagonist Harry Bosch and FBI Special Agent Eleanor Wish follow Tran to BHS&L after smoking him out using an ex-colleague, Ngo Van Binh, the target of an unsolved robbery a year earlier at the WestLand National Bank. Tran puts his surviving half of the jewels in BHS&L because it is not federally regulated. The Vietnamese are said to distrust banks. BHS&L provides a useful service to an elite Hollywood clientèle and charges premium fees. In the huge front window is a polished steel vault door. This is the only remarkable feature of the 14-story J. C. Stock Building. The vault is considered impregnable, with double-plated tempered glass and vibration alarms. Access to...