Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer

Grand Central Publishing Edition

Copyright 2005 by Hieronymus, Inc.

Excerpt from The Fifth Witness Copyright 2011 by Hieronymus, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author wishes to acknowledge the following, whose lyrics are quoted in this book: To Live And Die In L.A. Words and music by Quincy Jones III, Val Young, and Tupac Shakur copyright 1996 by Deep Technology Music, Music of Windswept and Songs of Universal, Inc., and Val Young Publishing. All rights for Deep Technology Music administered by Music of Windswept. All rights reserved. Used by permission; To Live and Die in L.A. by Tupac Amaru Shakur, Quincy Delight Jones III, Val Young 1996 by Music Corporation of America/Joshuas Dream Music. All rights administered by Songs of Universal, Inc./BMI. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This Grand Central Publishing edition is published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017.

Grand Central Publishing

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

www.twitter.com/grandcentralpub.

Second eBook Edition: January 2011

Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-759-51471-3

Mr. Connelly hurtles into the realm of the legal thriller with excitingly renewed energy and a full bag of tricks. Entertaining as it is during the investigation phase, this book goes up a notch when the courtroom conniving takes over.

New York Times

Connelly has stepped up to the plate in the overflowing ballpark of legal thrillers and blasted a grand slam his first time at bat.

Chicago Tribune

Has it allsharply drawn, engaging characters, snappy dialogue, and a plot that moves like a shot of Red Bull.

San Francisco Chronicle

Brisk pacing, clever twists, artful writing, and an atmosphere of complete authority. Another terrific book from a terrific writer.

Scott Turow

Beware of picking up THE LINCOLN LAWYER. You wont want to put it down until youve navigated its rapids to the end.

Los Angeles Times

A compelling mystery that has more sudden turns than Mulholland Drive.

Entertainment Weekly

Unexpected twists fast-moving all that Connelly readers have come to expect.

Denver Post

Smokes with intrigue.

New York Daily News

An intricately plotted courthouse thriller The tricks of Hallers trade will fascinate readers new to the genre, and the sophisticated storytelling will dazzle even judicial-thriller junkies.

People

Michael Connelly is not a genre novelist but the real thing, taking us into a part of the real America that most of our novelists never visit.

Washington Post Book World

A gripping read, one you cant put down.

Newsday

A taut, elaborate plot and quirky, well-drawn characters As the plot heats up, THE LINCOLN LAWYER becomes a page-turner.

Miami Herald

A thrilling ride with lots of twists and turns.

Dallas Morning News

All the right stuff: a sinuous plot, crisp dialogue, and a roster of reprehensible characters.

Booklist (starred review)

Achieves a new standard Proves that Connelly is guilty of producing some of the best crime fiction around.

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Connelly does a first-rate job THE LINCOLN LAWYER takes off like a bullet train.

St. Petersburg Times

Fast-paced with hefty doses of doubt, peril, and noir kinks in the plot Mickey Haller [is] smart and funny.

Sunday Oregonian

A steamroller plot Mickey is a terrific character.

Seattle Times

Connellys writing is superb, his dialogue vivid His depictions of deceptions small and large, to oneself and others, are part of what makes this new work so compelling.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[This book] moves at a mesmerizing pace, culminating in a solution that would have made Machiavelli proud.

Orlando Sentinel

Connelly is as good as it gets.

Columbus Dispatch

Connelly has built a plot which ticks like a Swiss watch, written some of the best courtroom scenes in crime fiction, and created a cast of wholly believable characters.

Birmingham Post

The Black Echo

The Black Ice

The Concrete Blonde

The Last Coyote

Trunk Music

Angels Flight

A Darkness More than Night

City of Bones

Lost Light

The Narrows

The Closers

Echo Park

The Overlook

Nine Dragons

The Lincoln Lawyer

The Brass Verdict

The Poet

The Scarecrow

Blood Work

Void Moon

Chasing the Dime

Mystery Writers of America Presents Blue Religion: New Stories about Cops, Criminals, and the Chase

Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers

THIS IS FOR DANIEL F. DALY
AND ROGER O. MILLS

There is no client as scary as an innocent man.

J. MICHAEL HALLER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, LOS ANGELES, 1962

Monday, March 7

T he morning air off the Mojave in late winter is as clean and crisp as youll ever breathe in Los Angeles County. It carries the taste of promise on it. When it starts blowing in like that I like to keep a window open in my office. There are a few people who know this routine of mine, people like Fernando Valenzuela. The bondsman, not the baseball pitcher. He called me as I was coming into Lancaster for a nine oclock calendar call. He must have heard the wind whistling in my cell phone.

Mick, he said, you up north this morning?

At the moment, I said as I put the window up to hear him better. You got something?

Yeah, I got something. I think I got a franchise player here. But his first appearance is at eleven. Can you make it back down in time?

Valenzuela has a storefront office on Van Nuys Boulevard a block from the civic center, which includes two courthouses and the Van Nuys jail. He calls his business Liberty Bail Bonds. His phone number, in red neon on the roof of his establishment, can be seen from the high-power wing on the third floor of the jail. His number is scratched into the paint on the wall next to every pay phone on every other ward in the jail.