The second book I listened to this week, "The Brass Verdict" is one of the Anthony Award nominees that I have committed to reading before October. I have read Michael Connelly before. This book is in the Mickey Haller series (in spite of Amazon listing it as a Harry Bosch book! Bosch appears, but the book is narrated by and mainly concerns, Mickey Haller, AKA "The Lincoln Lawyer). Mickey is called upon to pick up the law practice of a murdered associate, prompting the biggest case of his career. While trying to get his client off of a murder charge in his first case back after leaving law for a year, Mick is also examining his life as a defense attorney, a father, a husband (ex), and a human being. The reader gets the idea early on that maybe Mick doesn't want to slip back into the role he was playing before his injury; perhaps his encounters with Bosch help to shore up that feeling in him.

This book made me hope for more from Mickey Haller, even if he isn't a defense attorney. Here's hoping that Connelly continues this series (and the Harry Bosch novels) will into the future.

This is another book off the Anthony Award nominee list. I think this is the third one I've finished (after the two Hard Case crime novels), and it was a change from the two more noir-ish books.

I didn't actually read this one. I listened to the audio book. And really enjoyed it. The heroine in this book is Riley Spartz, a television reporter returning to work after a personal tragedy. Her comeback story about a possible series of serial murders is the primary "mystery" of the novel, but the setting of the TV station newsroom, with the conflicts of management/reporters and reporters/reporters makes for added tension. As an investigative reporter, it makes sense that Riley would become involved in an investigation; I like this better than "suburban mom" mysteries!

Julie Kramer has a second book coming out in July. It is on my "really want to read" list, based on this book.