''The Fifth Witness'' is the 23rd novel by American author

Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of Detective fiction, detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and cr ...

and features the fourth starring appearance of Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Michael "Mickey" Haller. ''The Fifth Witness'' was published in the United States on April 5, 2011.

Plot

Mickey Haller is called on to defend a long-standing client, Lisa Trammel, when she is suspected of murdering wealthy Mitchell Bondurant. According to forensic evidence, Bondurant, who was six-foot-two, had been murdered with a hammer blow from behind, on the very top of his head, while standing up. Haller and his staff (including his ex-wife, Lorna Taylor, and his investigator and Lorna's husband, Dennis "Cisco" Wojciechowski) work on demolishing the prosecution's case, even though Haller has never won against his opposing counsel, Andrea Freeman. On discovering Bondurant's probable involvement with

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

, Haller concentrates on establishing alternative suspects as well as relying on forensic evidence which suggests that Trammel is physically incapable of the crime. Haller's case hinges on the testimony of a witness whom he maneuvers into invoking the Fifth Amendment on the witness stand, thus creating a plausible alternate killer for the jury. Before Haller can detail the witness' criminal connections in open court, he takes the Fifth, ending his testimony. The judge instructs the jury to disregard the entire testimony, but the jury still acquits Trammel. Haller subsequently realizes that Trammel is guilty, and is shaken by her indifferent attitude when he confronts her. Three weeks later, with his law practice booming as a result of the trial, he gets a call from Trammel in which she both accuses him of tipping off the police to dig up her garden and begs him to represent her when she is tried for her husband's murder. He refuses, telling her that he has just filed to run for

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

because he no longer wishes to associate with people like her."Book review: 'The Fifth Witness' by Michael Connelly", ''Los Angeles Times'', 5 April 2011
Accessed 3 January 2013

References

External links

Official Michael Connelly Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifth Witness Novels by Michael Connelly Novels set in Los Angeles 2011 American novels Little, Brown and Company books