Nightshade

Detective Stillwell is the protagonist of Nightshade and the “commanding officer” of the Catalina Island police (9). Like Michael Connelly’s most famous protagonist, Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, Stilwell is characterized by his frequent disputes with authority, his fierce pursuit of justice, and his natural skills as a detective. Stilwell’s presence on Catalina Island is the result of a dispute with a fellow detective named Ahearn about a case regarding another officer. The novel implies that the posting on Catalina was Stilwell’s punishment for violating police hierarchies during the dispute and that he was “on thin ice” when he arrived (16). Throughout the novel, Stilwell displays a willingness to “push the boundaries” of his role as an investigator and “[cross] the lines of authority” in order to pursue the truth (101, 212). Stilwell’s tendency to question authority distinguishes him from his fellow law-enforcement officers within the novel but align him with Connelly’s other fictional protagonists, like Bosch.

Stilwell is motivated by his sense that the criminal justice system does not always achieve justice. After years as a detective, Stilwell sees the system as “not yet broken but getting close to it” (51). His belief that “there [i]s never complete justice” for victims like Leigh-Anne Moss is reflected in his worry that Charles Crane will be able to convince jurors of his innocence (305).