The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly

I do not remember how I came across Michael Connelly, but I suppose it probably has to do with the 2011 Matthew McConaughey movie The Lincoln Lawyer. Though I didn’t see the movie until several years later.

The Brass Verdict is Connelly’s second “Lincoln Lawyer” (or Mickey Haller) novel which is major part of Connelly’s fictional universe that takes place mainly in Los Angeles. You might be more familiar with Connelly’s original character, a police detective named Harry Bosch. There are other minor series featuring the characters Jack McEvoy, Terry McCaleb, and Cassie Black. Not surprisingly, Connelly’s website has a chronology of his books. When reading a mystery series, chronology is somewhat important.

At my count, The Brass Verdict is the nineteenth Connelly novel I’ve read. Though this a Mickey Haller book, The Brass Verdict features Harry Bosch in several chapters as well as the newspaper reporter Jack McEvoy. Like The Lincoln Lawyer before it, this book is told in the first person by Mickey Haller. To say that Haller has his demons would be a understatment, but the reader roots for him nonetheless.

One of the exercises I run through will reading a mystery novel is that I try to guess how the story will unfold. As in all good mystery writers, Connelly is able to place red herrings through book which are quite deceiving and even though The Brass Verdict ended in a logical way I was unable to guess the ending.

Connelly’s books are well researched, rather, they appear to be well researched. Though I am not a lawyer (or even a police detective), Connelly’s fictional world seems real and filled with plenty of ridiculous policies and procedures that the characters must jump through in their professional world. How believable? The wife and I were watching an episode Suits the other night and based on my reading of Connelly’s Mickey Haller’s series I was befuddled by apparent court-room histrionics that seemed driven by an implausible plot rather than real life. Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s only TV, but those shows, movies and books that have a basis in reality are always just that much better.

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