The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly is an exciting and fast-paced drama about Harry Bosch - a Los Angeles police detective, who at the age of forty three is in court defending himself against the widow of a man he was forced to shoot. When he attempted to arrest the man he believes to be the Dollmaker killer, despite warnings, the man reached under his pillow . Concluding he is after a gun, Detective Bosch shoots and kills Norman Church. Now his widow is suing him for that death four years earlier. The widow hires Honey Chandler, a more-than-capable attorney, who believes Harry overstepped his boundaries as a police officer, and who is sure Harry gunned Church down in cold blood. The case is further complicated when another Dollmaker killing occurs after Norman Church's death, which makes things look much worse for Detective Bosch.

It isn't long before Harry realizes that there had to have been more than one killer, despite how closely the patterns match. Now, in a struggle to keep his badge, Harry must find the copycat killer dubbed the "Follower" and bring him to justice, but this is no easy feat. Despite what has to be a short list of suspects because of the inside information the second killer possesses, especially in the beginning, Harry makes more than one mistake before finally finding his man. Believing at first that the most logical suspect is a cop who worked on the original Dollmaker killings with him, he is surprised to find out that he is wrong, and it almost costs Harry his life.

Despite being wrong about him, Harry's investigation leads him them to take the officer's badge for behavior that is unbecoming for his profession. Next, they suspect the psychologist helping them to profile both the original case and the Follower, but an alibi clears him just as it looks as though there is no hope. Finally, Harry realizes who the real Follower is, but after being wrong twice in a row, he is unwilling to share his suspicions until there is absolutely no doubt remaining. Unfortunately, it isn't soon enough to save the widow's lawyer, Honey Chandler, who he's come to grudgingly respect and admire during his trial. All this takes its toll on Harry's personal life as he tries to balance his love life with the amount of death his job brings in. Throughout it all, Harry comes to realize how important Sylvia is in his life and begins to learn how and what to let go and what to share.