Starred Review. Bestseller Connelly delivers one of his most intricate plots to date in his 20th book, a beautifully executed crime thriller. When L.A. lawyer Mickey Haller, last seen in The Lincoln Lawyer (2005), inherits the practice and caseload of a fellow defense attorney, Jerry Vincent, who's been murdered, the high-profile double-homicide case against famed Hollywood producer Walter Elliot, accused of shooting his wife and her alleged lover, takes top priority. As Haller scrambles to build a defense, he butts heads with LAPD Det. Harry Bosch, the stalwart hero of Connelly's long-running series (_The Black Echo_, etc.), who's working Vincent's murder. When Haller realizes that the Elliot affair is bigger than simply a jealous husband killing his cheating wife, he and Bosch grudgingly agree to work together to solve what could be the biggest case in both their careers. Bosch might have met his match in the wily Haller, and readers will delight in their sparring. 10-city author tour. (Oct.)
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Critics were pleased to see two of Michael Connelly's protagonists—the relatively new Mickey Haller and world-weary homicide detective Harry Bosch—come together for the first time. They agreed that while this union of sorts could have been cliched, it succeeded for the most part by adding a new layer—the evolution of a relationship forged by protagonists of different series—to Connelly's oeuvre. Haller's presence adds a lighter tone to the story, which balances Bosch's darker, more ruminative outlook. Both play against each other nicely as Connelly writes at once a police procedural and a captivating legal thriller. The Washington Post called The Brass Verdict primarily entertainment, with deeper undertones—just right for Connelly fans.
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