• Nine Dragons. Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 384 pages. $27.99.

Ever since Michael Connelly first sent his LAPD detective Harry Bosch down the tunnels in Black Echo, the author has made sure his character has been in constant flux. The Harry at the beginning of Connelly's 1990 Edgar-winning debut was not the same Harry at the end. And it has been that way throughout Connelly's series. The only constant has been that Harry has not had to worry how his actions, his mission of seeking justice and his insular personality would affect anyone else. Until now.

Harry's personal and professional lives overlap in the engrossing Nine Dragons, the 15th novel -- and one of the best -- in this series. Nine Dragons works as a gripping police procedural, an intense character study and an international thriller. The novel also explores a man learning to become a father, serves as a travel guide to the back streets of Hong Kong and provides an in-depth look at L.A.'s Asian community.

Harry's latest case takes him to a tough south L.A. neighborhood where the Chinese owner of Fortune Liquors has been shot during an apparent robbery. The case resonates with Harry because this owner gave the detective a few minutes of rest during the L.A. riots. Joining with the LAPD's Asian Gang Unit, Bosch finds a likely suspect with ties to a Hong Kong triad. But the case takes a backseat when Harry learns that his 13-year-old daughter, Maddie, has been kidnapped. Harry immediately flies to Hong Kong, where Maddie lives with his ex-wife, Eleanor. As the cases merge, Harry learns as much about himself as he does the investigation.

Connelly's character study of Harry continues to evolve as he finds new depth to the detective. Harry always has believed himself to be emotionally ``bulletproof . . . invulnerable, so that nothing and no one could ever get to him.'' As a father, he knows that is no longer true. Events in Nine Dragons will affect future novels, giving Connelly new fields to explore.

• 13 ½. Nevada Barr.

Vanguard. 320 pages. $25.95.

Putting her bestselling series about park ranger Anna Pigeon on hiatus, Nevada Barr dives in full force for her first stand-alone psychological thriller about the power of love, manipulation and taking charge of your life. While the Anna Pigeon novels are more straight-on adventure stories with evocative nature scenes, Barr skillfully shows her affinity for delving into her characters' souls in 13 ½.

Polly Farmer and Marshall Marchand might never have had much of a future, given their backgrounds. But Polly is now an English professor; Marshall a restoration architect; and -- even more miraculous -- these two emotionally closed people met in post-Katrina New Orleans and married.

Polly grew up poor, fending off her alcoholic mother's string of husbands and boyfriends. At 15, she fled to New Orleans, living on the streets but never giving up and somehow graduating from college. Her two daughters from her first marriage are her world. Marshall's real name is Dylan Raines -- nicknamed the ``Butcher Boy'' because at age 11 he was convicted of murdering his parents and sister more than 25 years before in Minnesota. Only his brother, Rich, who was not home that night, was spared, and the two siblings remained close. After Dylan was released, the brothers changed their names and moved to New Orleans. Marshall never remembered the murders and has always lived in fear that he would do it again.

Barr keeps the psychological terror elevated in 13 ½ by showing how people can be manipulated -- by others and by the juvenile justice system. The power of love is at the core of the novel, which shows a new side of Barr's storytelling talents.

Oline H. Cogdill reviewed this book for The Sun Sentinel.

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