The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly

The Gods of Guilt (Lincoln Lawyer) by Michael Connelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm not sure whether I like Michael Connolly's “Lincoln Lawyer”, Mickey Haller, or Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch better. I think it probably depends which one I've read most recently!

Whatever the case, I love Mickey Haller. Mickey is conflicted. He knows that the job he does as a criminal defense lawyer is important, and he knows that he's very, very, good at it. But he also knows that sometimes he helps guilty men walk. And that makes him feel guilty too. While that guilt makes him human, and occasionally drives him to drink, he's not the kind of self-indulgent sot that I so hate in mysteries.

I won't spoil the revelation to explain who the Gods of Guilt of the title are, but of course it also refers to all the people who Mickey feels are judging him for the choices he's made through his career (not all of whom are even alive).

There's no “whodunnit” here. We know almost immediately that Mickey's client is innocent, and it doesn't take much longer to be pretty sure who is guilty. What is here in this story is a solid courtroom procedural, with plenty of soul-searching about how one does the right thing, and even what that right thing is.

The Fatal Touch by Conor Fitzgerald

The Fatal Touch (Commissario Alec Blume) by Conor Fitzgerald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not as good as Fitzgerald's first outing, but still enjoyable.

I had some difficulty with credibility, but the reader has to remember we're talking about Italy. Or at least the Italy of crime fiction. The corrupt Carabiniere seems over-the-top, and certainly would be if set in North America, but is probably not worse than I have seen in other crime fiction set in Italy. I don't know enough, personally, about Italy to know how corrupt the police are, but one suspects that the novels might not be telling the whole story.

On the positive side, the police work is solid, and clues don't have to appear by wild coincidence to advance the plot.