Connelly happiest with latest Lincoln Lawyer book

Crime writer Michael Connelly once more is behind the wheel of a Lincoln Town Car and taking readers on a disturbing ride through the criminal-justice system. “The Gods of Guilt,” the fifth book in Connelly’s acclaimed Lincoln Lawyer series, is not so much a legal thriller as a character study of a man deeply at odds with himself and a career that has made him the go-to defense attorney in Los Angeles.

Connelly will sign and discuss the book Monday, Dec. 2, at the Arizona Biltmore.

The book’s title is a pejorative for juries. It also refers to lawyer Mickey Haller’s personal demons and self-loathing. Much has happened to Haller in the past two years, little of it good. He still runs his legal practice out of his car. His bid for district attorney derailed tragically. Haller’s daughter and ex-wife have shut him out of their lives. He drinks excessively. And he’s about to get involved with a former call girl tied to one of his cases.

His shot at redemption comes with the murder of a prostitute, a woman he thought he had helped escape the oldest profession. Haller sees the case as a way to prove his virtue, by representing a client some criminal defenders only

dream about: a truly innocent man.

Connelly, 57, is the author of 25 previous novels, many of them featuring homicide detective Harry Bosch. His characters, even at their darkest, usually display grim determination and self-assurance. But here, Connelly abandons that formula and instead focuses on Haller’s insecurities and weaknesses. The result is his most complex, nuanced and rewarding novel in more than a decade.

Connelly, while on set of the upcoming Harry Bosch television series on Amazon Prime instant video, recently spoke about the darkness that fuels his writing, his characters and the film versions of his books.

On detectives and defense attorneys:

Harry is an iconic ... homicide detective, a guy who takes the worst of society out of society. There is a built-in hero in that kind of character. And you get to a defense attorney and there is built-in suspicion about someone like that, someone who stands for the accused. On one level, you have the virtue and nobility of our system that, no matter what anyone is accused of, they should get the best defense. ... But in reality, it’s a different story, and that kind of opens the door to a darker character, a character who has to figure out ways of living with himself. On Mickey Haller: I would say of the five Lincoln Lawyer books, this is the book that has the deepest character study. So, therefore, I’m probably the happiest with it of all my Lincoln Lawyer stories. ... At the heart of this book, there’s a thing that Mickey has done — and he has actually done his job correctly — and it certainly backfires on him in terms of feeling guilty, in terms of losing people that he cares the most about. ... He pays the price. On dealing with darkness: I really look at the homicide detective as someone who has one of the last noble causes. Just because of the danger of what they do. And I’m not talking about the danger from bullets, I’m talking about going into human darkness as a matter of course, every day. … And