I've been reading lot of first novels by new authors, and there have been a lot more misses in this group than hits. So when Michael Connelly's book, The Brass Verdict, appeared at the top of my reading pile, I smiled and thought, 'Yee-Ha! This should be good!' And it is.
Michael Connelly is the author of many detective novels featuring Los Angeles Homicide Detective Harry Bosh. In 2005, Connelly introduced a new character in The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller. Haller is a criminal defense attorney in L.A. who prefers to runs his legal practice from the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car. In The Brass Verdict, Mickey Haller returns, and his legal practice jumps from nonexistent to smokin' after a colleague, another sole practitioner, is murdered.
Haller becomes responsible for sorting out the dead lawyer's clients. The police, including Connelly's famous Detective Harry Bosch, suspect that somewhere in the client files is the answer to not only why the lawyer was murdered, but also whether Mickey, too, is now in jeopardy.
Mickey moves quickly to handle representation issues for the clients. Briskly and with humor, Connelly has Mickey, his secretary and investigator do the work that must be done, including putting out some immediate legal 'fires', contacting clients about their now-former lawyer's death, and giving the clients the option to seek new representation or stick with Mickey. One client Mickey want to hang onto is a movie mogul, a man with the substantial financial resources to pay Haller's fees, and who is the defendant in a high profile double-murder case scheduled for trial in a matter of weeks.
Finding out how Mickey copes with client problems and trial pressure, the truth about the lawyer's murder, and corruption within Los Angeles County, is a fun ride and makes The Brass Verdict recommended reading.
