The Lincoln Lawyer: Books vs. Series
The Lincoln Lawyer is David E. Kelley and Ted Humphrey's 2022 series, adapted from books by Michael Connelly. It has run for 4 seasons and 40 episodes so far. A fifth and final season will also be released on Netflix.
From Books Adapted
Which books each season covers
The series starts with the second book and skips ahead
The main cases follow this order, with some material from the first novel carried across the opening seasons.
| Season | Books adapted |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Brass Verdict, book 2, with the Jesus Menendez subplot drawn from The Lincoln Lawyer, book 1. |
| 2 | The Fifth Witness, book 4. It also continues the Menendez story carried over from season 1 and book 1. |
| 3 | The Gods of Guilt, book 5. |
| 4 | The Law of Innocence, book 6. |
| 5* | Announced to adapt Resurrection Walk, book 7. |
| A guide, not an exact match: shows move scenes and storylines between books and seasons. | |
* As of October 18, 2026, seasons 1–4 have been released. Netflix has announced season 5 as the final season; it has not been released.
The Reversal, book 3, and The Proving Ground, book 8, have not been adapted by the series. The first novel has not supplied a full season's main case, though the series uses parts of its story. The separate 2011 movie adapts that first book.
What changed from the book
Detective Griggs takes Harry Bosch's place
Harry Bosch investigates the death of the lawyer whose cases Mickey inherits in The Brass Verdict. The series gives that investigation to Detective Griggs, a character created for the show. Connelly explained that Bosch's own separate series meant they needed another detective.
Izzy, Mickey's driver, is also an addition. The books let Mickey explain his thinking directly through first-person narration. The series gives him someone to talk to during his car journeys.
Season 2 changes a foreclosure case into a dispute over development
The Fifth Witness was set during the foreclosure crisis. Mickey defends a woman accused of killing the banker trying to take her home.
Season 2 makes Lisa Trammell a chef and restaurant owner. The man she is accused of killing is a developer who wants her property for a high-rise. Connelly said updating the case was the writers' first priority because the book's original circumstances belonged to the time it was published.
The books, in order
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2005
- Pages
- 448
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 36 min
- Narrator
- Adam Grupper
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 1
Mickey Haller builds his defense practice around clients who can rarely afford much justice, working between Los Angeles courthouses from his Lincoln Town Car. A wealthy man accused of assault appears to offer a lucrative change, but investigating his story raises doubts that force Mickey to reconsider both this client and the compromises of his earlier cases.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2008
- Pages
- 432
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 21 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 2
Returning to work after a troubled absence, Mickey Haller inherits a murdered colleague’s practice and the defense of a studio executive accused of killing his wife and her lover. Detective Harry Bosch is pursuing the lawyer’s killer, and the two men’s competing investigations leave Haller unsure whether his new case is an opportunity or a trap.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2010
- Pages
- 464
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 35 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 3
Mickey Haller takes an unusual assignment on the prosecution’s side when DNA evidence overturns a child murderer’s conviction. With Harry Bosch investigating, he must rebuild a decades-old case against Jason Jessup. A reluctant witness and a defense campaign played out in the media complicate the retrial, while Bosch fears that Jessup’s release puts another child at risk.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2011
- Pages
- 480
- Audiobook length
- 13 hr 51 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 4
A downturn in business has Mickey Haller defending homeowners against foreclosure when one of his clients is accused of killing a banker. He returns to criminal court to defend her, but building a persuasive account for the jury becomes increasingly difficult as he discovers how much of his client’s life has been kept from him.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2013
- Pages
- 416
- Audiobook length
- 11 hr 49 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 5
A murder case becomes personal for Mickey Haller when he recognizes the victim as a former client he thought he had helped leave sex work. Defending the man accused of killing her means investigating her return to Los Angeles and confronting the possibility that Mickey’s own earlier choices helped put her in danger.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2020
- Pages
- 432
- Audiobook length
- 12 hr 27 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 6
A traffic stop ends with Mickey Haller under arrest when police discover a former client’s body in his car. Unable to afford bail, he prepares to defend himself from jail, where his work as a lawyer makes him a target. Harry Bosch and Mickey’s team search outside for the evidence that could expose who put the body there.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2023
- Pages
- 416
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 30 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles, see all
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 7
Letters from prisoners flood Mickey Haller’s office after he overturns a wrongful conviction. Harry Bosch helps screen them and finds troubling inconsistencies in the case of a woman imprisoned for killing her ex-husband, a sheriff’s deputy. Reopening her case means challenging an investigation conducted by the dead man’s own department, whose conclusions have already persuaded the courts.
Details
- Author
- Michael Connelly
- Year
- 2025
- Pages
- 416
- Audiobook length
- 10 hr 50 min
- Narrator
- Peter Giles
- Series
- The Lincoln Lawyer, book 8
Mickey Haller represents the family of a murdered girl in a civil suit against the company behind an AI chatbot. Their claim is that its conversations encouraged the teenage boy who killed her. With journalist Jack McEvoy helping investigate, Mickey tries to establish the company’s responsibility against a defense with vast resources and a business to protect.
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