The Concrete Blonde characters

Appears from the start

An LAPD homicide detective defending a civil suit over his fatal shooting of Norman Church, the man police identified as the Dollmaker serial killer. Bosch remains certain Church was guilty, but a newly discovered victim forces him to test that certainty while he is on trial.

Appears from the start

Bosch's girlfriend, a schoolteacher and the widow of narcotics detective Cal Moore. She wants a stable, honest relationship with Bosch but finds that his absorption in the Dollmaker case leaves little space for a shared life.

Also known as Money Chandler

Appears from the start

The formidable attorney representing Deborah Church in the civil action against Bosch. Precise, aggressive, and highly prepared, she intends to prove that Bosch acted recklessly and then allowed the department to make Norman Church fit the Dollmaker case.

Appears from the start

Norman Church's widow and the plaintiff in the lawsuit against Bosch. She presents her husband as a family man wrongly killed by police and seeks a public judgment against the detective who shot him.

Appears from the start

The man Bosch shot four years earlier after entering his apartment during the Dollmaker investigation. Evidence found afterward tied him to the murdered women, but the circumstances of the unarmed shooting now form the basis of the civil trial.

First appears in chapter 3

Bosch's homicide partner, who works the newly discovered killing while Bosch divides his attention between the investigation and the courtroom. Edgar supplies procedural balance to Bosch's more intuitive approach.

Appears from the start

The city attorney assigned to defend Bosch in the civil trial. He must counter Honey Chandler's presentation while managing a client who continues investigating during the proceedings and resists courtroom strategy.

First appears in chapter 2

Bosch's commanding lieutenant. Pounds expects the new homicide to be handled without disrupting the department's defense in court and has little patience for Bosch's refusal to separate the two matters.

First appears in chapter 15

An LAPD vice detective who worked close to the world in which several Dollmaker victims lived. His access and private interests draw Bosch's attention as the team examines who could reproduce the killer's methods.

First appears in chapter 11

A psychologist familiar with serial offenders and the Dollmaker investigation. Bosch consults him to understand whether the new burial points to Norman Church, an unknown partner, or someone copying confidential details.

First appears in chapter 2

A senior LAPD official watching both the civil trial and the renewed murder inquiry. Irving's priority is preventing either from causing wider damage to the department.