Known for hit book series “The Lincoln Lawyer” and “Bosch,” Michael Connelly is a 69-year-old American writer, producer, podcast host and bestselling author. His crime fiction novels, featuring the iconic characters of Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller, have been adapted multiple times for film and television.
Now, Connelly is working on his newest project with playwright/TV writer Jim Leonard, tentatively titled “Untitled Florida Task Force Series,” and inspired by his crime reporting days, including a nearly one-year stint at The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
“There would be no Lincoln Lawyer franchise, books, TV shows and a movie, if I had not worked at The Daytona Beach News-Journal,” Connelly told a News-Journal reporter in an interview Monday afternoon.
Who is Michael Connelly?
Born Michael Joseph Connelly, the 69-year-old is a writer, producer, podcast host and bestselling American author known for his crime fiction novels, most notably for the “Bosch” series featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and “The Lincoln Lawyer” series with criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller.
His work has been brought to the big screen with multiple film and television adaptations such as “The Lincoln Lawyer” (2011) starring Matthew McConaughey and “Blood Work” (2002) starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. He is also an executive producer of numerous Amazon Studios and Netflix televison series based on his novels, and the creator and host of podcasts “Murder Book” and “The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History Of Hollywood.”
Connelly’s forty-one fiction novels have sold over eighty-nine million copies worldwide and have been translated into forty-five foreign languages, according to his official website.
Does Michael Connelly live in Florida?
Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 21, 1956. At the age of 12, he moved to Florida with his family. While attending the University of Florida, Connelly decided to become a writer and majored in journalism and minored in creative writing.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked as a crime reporter at The Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, now known as the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Connelly later landed a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country. He spends his time in California and Florida, according to his website biography.
How many of Michael Connelly’s books have been made into movies?
Two of Connelly’s books have been adapted into movies: “Blood Work,” (2002) directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and “The Lincoln Lawyer,” (2011) starring Matthew McConaughey.
Michael Connelly movies and television shows
Movies based on Michael Connelly novels:
TV shows based on Michael Connelly novels:
Upcoming projects
Is Michael Connelly writing any more books?
Michael Connelly’s “The Proving Ground,” the latest novel in the seven-book Lincoln Lawyer series, comes out on Oct. 21. It follows the Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Hallerand his “case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a teenage girl.”
“Following his ‘resurrection walk’ and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a sixteen-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty,” according to Connelly’s official website.
“Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails. Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy (The Poet), who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it,” the synopsis read. “But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimately delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.”
Contributing: Brenno Carillo, Daytona Beach News-Journal
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Who is Michael Connelly? Author behind ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’, ‘Bosch’ is Florida-inspired
Reporting by Ashley Ferrer, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
