Former Los Angeles Times crime reporter Michael Connelly had already built a strong police procedural franchise around Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch when he published The Lincoln Lawyer, and it introduced more than the detective’s half-brother. Mickey Haller, a defense lawyer who works out of his Town Car, offers discursive, densely plotted, and unapologetically cynical tours of the American justice system. It all starts in this 2005 novel with the case of a Beverly Hills scion who at least appears to be falsely accused of brutally attacking a woman. The play of shadow and light serves the ambiguities of both the story and of Haller, played by Matthew McConaughey in the 2011 movie adaptation (so memorably that he scored a Lincoln spokesman contract), and by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the Netflix series that started in 2022. —Karl Vick
Buy Now: The Lincoln Lawyer on Bookshop | Amazon
- How Donald Trump Won
- The Best Inventions of 2024
- Why Sleep Is the Key to Living Longer
- Robert Zemeckis Just Wants to Move You
- How to Break 8 Toxic Communication Habits
- Nicola Coughlan Bet on Herself—And Won
- Why Vinegar Is So Good for You
- Meet TIME's Newest Class of Next Generation Leaders