The Mike Connolly Series

Sober Justice was New York Times bestselling author Joe Hilley’s debut novel. It first appeared in 2004, and introduced readers to Mike Connolly, a fifty-something attorney who lives on the Gulf Coast. Divorced, alcoholic, and estranged from his family, Connolly gets through the day with help from a bottle of gin and Marisa, an exotic dancer from a club on the state line. But when a prominent plaintiff’s attorney turns up dead, Connolly is appointed to defend the man accused of killing him. And that’s when things get interesting—deadly interesting.

Mike Connolly is a recovering alcoholic wrestling with newfound sobriety and a law practice that is on the skids from years of neglect when he is asked to represent Harvey Bosarge, a former police detective. Bosarge is accused of murder in the death of a wealthy Southern heir, but that's just the beginning. The truth lies somewhere beneath a tangled web of drugs, espionage, and infidelity. To find it, Mike must navigate a maze of politics and family secrets that threaten his undoing at every turn. The case is a riddle within a riddle and Mike will need all the help he can get to solve it, and survive.

After years in a drunken stupor, Mike Connolly is finally sober. His legal practice is back to being profitable and his life has reached a comfortable rhythm. Then a late-night phone call turns his world upside down. Camille Braxton is missing and Perry, her husband, is the target of a police investigation. When Camille's body turns up a few days later on a sandbar near Horn Island, Perry lands in jail. Defending him takes Mike to a tanning salon that fronts for a prostitution ring and back to people he's tried hard to forget. Life would be much simpler if Mike could ignore the things he sees, but when he learns the women from the salon were trafficked into the sex trade and are living in a warehouse, he feels compelled to do more than simply defend his client. Then he discovers the cache of bodies in the scrapyard and Mike knows his life will never be the same again. But first he has to avoid the men who intend to kill him to hide their secrets

Dibber Landry lives on a barrier island near the mouth of Mobile Bay. As a hurricane approaches, most residents evacuate, but not Dibber. While rummaging through Inez Marchand's storm-damaged house, he finds more than he expected-a dead body and ultimately a murder charge. Now it's up to Mike Connolly to untangle a web of secrets no one else will touch.

Told in real time, The Deposition continues the story of Mike Connolly, the-down-and-out attorney. This time, Mike's story is told through the eyes of his friends—and his enemies.

The woman he rescued from a life of prostitution has a lot to say, if she can stay alive long enough to say it. Then there's the lawyer who wants to make certain she never does and the priest who won't talk even if it means losing his life. They're locked in a high-stakes race to see who lives to tell the dark secrets of men in powerful places, and who dies to keep them quiet.

When the bodies of Margo Doucet and Paul Elliot are found in a motel room, everyone thinks Margo’s husband, Willie Gene, killed them in a jealous rage. Evidence seems to point to him, too, and he’s charged with their murders. Willie Gene turns to Mike Connolly for help. Mike soon learns the dead man was an engineer set to testify against Margo’s cousin in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit. That’s when Mike realizes the affair is just the beginning of the story.

Defending Willie Gene uncovers a world of corporate corruption, loan sharks, and organized crime and Mike discovers enough motive to implicate everyone involved, but all he needs is evidence that exonerates his client. He finds it, but if he uses what he knows in court, the lives of everyone he cares about will be at risk.