Sep 25, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 12 segments
For Episode 20 of PodNumbra, we sit down with bestselling crime novelist **Michael Connelly**, the creator of Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller, Renée Ballard and countless unforgettable characters. After…
Michael ConnellyGuestPodNumbra HostHostObviously, you've had extraordinary success in the writing department, in the crime genre, but you've also had a boatload of success in movies and film and TV shows.
It seems like everything that you write gets turned into a movie or a TV show in one way or shape or form.
But what was more stimulating for you, having your first novel published or having Bloodwork adapted into a movie which was directed and starred in by Clint Eastwood? Oh, definitely having
I mean, all this Hollywood stuff is really... fantastic and ego fulfilling, but I try not to lose sight at the end of the day, I'm a book writer and I do get most fulfillment from a good day of writing, finishing a book and getting the hard copy and putting it on the shelf.
So it's really the book stuff is the amazing stuff to me, and especially a first book.
From the time I drove home and told my parents I wanted to be a crime novelist, it was 16 years before I was holding a book.
It was a great journey mostly because I was naive and I didn't know anything.
And so it wasn't like, oh my God, it took me 16 years to get a book published.
And yeah, I mean, but it is pretty fulfilling to know that, you know, my father didn't make it to when it was published, but he knew it was going to be published.
So all that was incorporated into holding that book when it came in the mail and knowing that the journey was worth it.
Yeah, and also these are your characters, these are your stories that you've created.
And then when they are going to be made into a TV or a movie, you're turning that process over to some other creatives.
Are you possessive of your work or basically just you let go and let God in that situation?
No, I did initially with the movies, but with the advent of streaming, where they were going to turn these characters into series, you know, I wanted to make sure they had the character right.
So I'd been involved, you know, I wasn't involved in the movies, but I had two movies before I had any TV.
And I had a lot of success in publishing, so I really could call the shots.
Obviously, you've had extraordinary success in the writing department, in the crime genre, but you've also had a boatload of success in movies and film and TV shows.
It seems like everything that you write gets turned into a movie or a TV show in one way or shape or form.
But what was more stimulating for you, having your first novel published or having Bloodwork adapted into a movie which was directed and starred in by Clint Eastwood? Oh, definitely having
I mean, all this Hollywood stuff is really... fantastic and ego fulfilling, but I try not to lose sight at the end of the day, I'm a book writer and I do get most fulfillment from a good day of writing, finishing a book and getting the hard copy and putting it on the shelf.
So it's really the book stuff is the amazing stuff to me, and especially a first book.
From the time I drove home and told my parents I wanted to be a crime novelist, it was 16 years before I was holding a book.
It was a great journey mostly because I was naive and I didn't know anything.
And so it wasn't like, oh my God, it took me 16 years to get a book published.
And yeah, I mean, but it is pretty fulfilling to know that, you know, my father didn't make it to when it was published, but he knew it was going to be published.
So all that was incorporated into holding that book when it came in the mail and knowing that the journey was worth it.
Yeah, and also these are your characters, these are your stories that you've created.
And then when they are going to be made into a TV or a movie, you're turning that process over to some other creatives.
Are you possessive of your work or basically just you let go and let God in that situation?
No, I did initially with the movies, but with the advent of streaming, where they were going to turn these characters into series, you know, I wanted to make sure they had the character right.
So I'd been involved, you know, I wasn't involved in the movies, but I had two movies before I had any TV.
And I had a lot of success in publishing, so I really could call the shots.
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