As I write, Scott Turow is seventy-three years old. He is an accomplished attorney and bestselling author of sixteen books, most of them bestsellers. He possesses a law degree from Harvard University. So, one might think he would stumble badly building a novel around a poorly educated,...
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You might think John Grisham would show signs of fatigue or a failure of imagination when writing his fiftieth novel. Not so. The reigning champion of the legal thriller is at the top of his form in The Boys from Biloxi, the story of one family’s decades-long struggle against the mobsters of...
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If you read books, then you almost certainly know the name John Grisham. To date, he’s published 37 bestselling adult novels and seven for children, as well as three nonfiction books. Eleven of his novels have been adapted into feature films and four into television series. His books have...
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John Grisham has been writing bestselling legal thrillers since A Time to Kill in 1989. He has sold hundreds of millions of copies of his books around the world in 42 languages and is regularly ranked as one of the most successful writers on the planet. Grisham is an activist and an outspoken...
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Once upon a time mystery novels traveled straight lines through a minefield of obstacles and threats to a simple, straightforward conclusion. The detective, the victim, or some other investigator would confront a puzzle and, in the end, solve it. But bestselling mystery authors don’t write...
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Juliana Brody is living the good life. She’s “in her early forties, but as her mother liked to say immodestly, she had good genes.” She’s a respected judge on the Superior Court in Boston, and happily married with two teenage children. And she’s touted to be in...
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Eighteen sixty-nine. Rural Scotland. A 17-year-old boy named Roderick Macrae has brutally murdered a neighboring man and two of his children. He freely confesses to the crime, stating that “I carried out these acts with the sole purpose of delivering my father from the tribulations he has...
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“After you murder someone, life is never the same.” So begins The Rule of Law, the 18th entry in John Lescroart’s consistently suspenseful series of mystery novels featuring San Francisco criminal defense attorney Dismas Hardy. And it’s not long before we learn that...
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Here are 18 courtroom dramas I’ve read, enjoyed, and reviewed here. You’ll see several familiar names among the authors. Jodi Picoult’s name frequently appears on the New York Times bestseller lists. Michael Connelly writes the popular series featuring the Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller, in...
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John Grisham is well known around the world as an author of popular courtroom dramas and other legal thrillers. Now, in 2018, he has ventured into new territory with an extraordinary historical novel. Although some of the action takes place in the courtroom, the central elements of the story are a...
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John Lescroart surprises with a courtroom drama in which the suspense is all about whether Dismas Hardy’s new case will ever get into a courtroom. Poison is the 17th novel in Lescroart’s first-rate series about the San Francisco defense attorney who is also an ex-Marine, a bartender,...
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Denise Mina’s new thriller, The Long Drop, was a Washington Post Book of the Year for 2017. The book is based on contemporaneous accounts and two later books about the trial of Peter Manuel, who came to be known as “Scotland’s first serial killer.” Manuel was a career...
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Over the past three decades, bestselling San Francisco author John Lescroart has been writing novels about the dark side of human character. He’s produced more than two dozen. His most popular series features former cop, bartender, and trial attorney Dismas Hardy; Dismas’s...
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Dismas Hardy’s resumé is a little difficult to understand: former Marine (combat in Vietnam), former San Francisco cop, former Assistant DA, now one-quarter owner of the Shamrock and full-time bartender there. The explanation is simple, though. The events that induced him to leave a...
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San Francisco bartender Dismas Hardy was briefly a patrol officer in the SFPD while he worked toward a law degree. He left the law shortly after the death of an infant son and divorce from his wife. But when his boss and best friend learns that his popular brother-in-law has mysteriously died,...
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It’s 2011. David Cameron lives at 10 Downing Street, the recession is still in full swing, and London is simultaneously preparing for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. This all takes place in the background of Nick Stone’s excellent...
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It seems that John Grisham doesn’t much like police or prosecutors, and that he’s not wild about judges in general, either. As he writes in his latest courtroom drama, Rogue Lawyer, “The road to justice is filled with barriers and land mines, most of them created by men and women...
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John Lescroart writes compelling courtroom dramas set in San Francisco, most of them centered on the brilliant defense lawyer Dismas (“Diz”) Hardy. Now, in his latest work, The Fall, Lescroart begins moving into the future with Hardy’s daughter, Rebecca (“The Beck”),...
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In the latest of his numerous legal thrillers set in the American South, John Grisham brings his considerable capacity for anger to bear on Big Coal in Appalachia, zeroing in on the twin tragedies of strip mining and black lung disease. Grisham really, really doesn’t like big...
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I have a question for you if you love courtroom dramas. What is it that keeps you coming back for more? Is it the sheer tension and suspense? The brilliance of the litigators? The clash of personalities in the courtroom? The opportunity to guess which way the jury will go? The potential for...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Science Fiction Monday includes my latest SF book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.
Science Fiction Monday includes my latest SF book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.