Like Harper Lee or John Grisham?

Who doesn't like To Kill a Mockingbird?  Have you enjoyed any of John Grisham's novels?  If so, you might be interested in reading the contenders for this year's Harper Lee Prize for the best works of legal fiction published during the past year.  The award was established one year ago (with Harper Lee's blessing), to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Last year's winner was John Grisham. 

This year's top three are (the blurbs below were taken from the authors's websites):

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly:

In tough times, crime is one of the few things that still pays. But if defense attorney Mickey Haller was expecting an uptick in business during the economic downturn, the reality is a different story. Even people needing legal representation to keep them out of jail are having to make cutbacks, it seems. In fact, the most significant part of Mickey’s business right now is not about keeping clients out of jail but about keeping roofs over their heads as the foreclosure boom hits thousands of people who were granted unrealistic mortgages in the good times and now face being kicked to the curb in the bad times.

Lisa Trammel has been a client of Mickey’s for eight months—hers was his very first foreclosure case, in fact—and although so far he’s managed to stop the bank from taking her house, the strain and sense of injustice have taken a toll. The bank recently got a restraining order to prevent her from protesting against its practices. Now, a high-level bank employee, Mitchell Bondurant, has been found dead in the bank’s parking lot, and Lisa is about to be indicted for murder. For Mickey, it’s back to what he does best on the biggest stage of all, but if he thought defending Lisa Trammel was going to be a walk in the park, he’d be wrong. Not only is he about to learn some startling truths about his client, but also about himself, and by the time the verdict is in, Mickey’s whole world will have been turned upside down.

Murder One by Robert Dugoni

A year after tragedy, attorney David Sloane has returned to work full time. At a black-tie dinner, he reconnects with Barclay Reid, opposing counsel in Sloane's most prominent case. Barclay is suffering from her own personal tragedy after the death of her teenage daughter from a drug overdose. In the aftermath, Barclay has begun an intense crusade against the Russian drug traffickers she holds responsible for her daughter's death, pursuing them with a righteousness that matches Sloane's own zeal for justice. Sloane finds himself drawn to this woman, despite their adversarial past.
When Barclay's crusade stalls and the Russian drug dealer turns up dead, she stands accused of murder, and Sloane is her chosen defender. Amidst the swirling media frenzy, in his first criminal case, Sloane finds himself once again in harm's way, while mounting evidence suggests Barclay is a woman with many secrets. And she may not be quite as innocent—or as in love with Sloane as she purports to be.

Breach of Trust by David Ellis

In this second installment of the Jason Kolarich series, Jason investigates the murder of a key witness in a criminal case that Jason tried. Jason had forced the witness to testify and believes that this led to the witness' murder. When the evidence leads to an obscure agency in state government, guilt-stricken Jason goes to work for the agency to dig deeper. Before he knows it, Jason finds himself square in the middle of a high-level conspiracy of fraud and corruption—as well as a covert federal investigation into these crimes. He is confronted by agents of the FBI, who force Jason to work undercover to root out the criminal activity. Jason finds himself with two roles, solving the murder of the witness and helping put away top state officials—all the way to the governor’s door. But are the two things related? And how far must Jason go to solve the murder and take down a corrupt governor?


The prize is sponsored by the University of Alabama Law School (where Harper Lee attended law school) and the American Bar Association, and the panel of judges includes:

New York Times Bestselling Novelist Linda Fairstein

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

New York Times Bestselling Novelist Lisa Scottoline

NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg

FOX News Political Analyst Juan Williams

And, you!

If you've read any of these titles and would like to vote, click here