‘THE LINCOLN LAWYER: Season 3’ on NETFLIX

Michael Connelly, the prolific author of crime fiction and detective novels, is arguably at the top ranks of writers whose books are worthy of being adapted as screenplays for television or movies.

His most notable characters are LAPD detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller, the central persons, respectively, for the Amazon series “Bosch” and the Netflix incipient franchise “The Lincoln Lawyer,” now streaming for its third season.

Before Netflix launched “The Lincoln Lawyer” series in 2022, Connelly’s eponymous 2005 novel was first made into the 2011 film of the same title, starring Matthew McConaughey as the Los Angeles defense lawyer who operates out of the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car.

The Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln division produced the 1986 Town Car that was featured in the McConaughey film, whereas the streaming series on Netflix features a classic 1963 four-door Lincoln Convertible as the lawyer’s car of choice when he’s mostly driving for leisure.

The third season picks up where the previous one left off with Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) showing up at the West Hollywood jail for Julian LaCosse (Devon Graye), arrested as the suspect in the murder of sex worker Gloria Dayton (Fiona Rene).

Julian has only known Gloria as Giselle Dallinger, who operates under multiple aliases and could not be identified at the County morgue until Haller showed up, noting that she mostly went by Glory Days.

The evidence against Julian, as happens to be the case for many that Haller represents, may be circumstantial but enough threads connect to his culpability with at least a degree of credibility.

On the night of the homicide, Julian is found on a surveillance camera to have arrived and departed from Gloria’s apartment building within the timeframe of the murder and the testimony of a neighbor that a loud argument had ensued gave credence to foul play.

It turns out that Gloria was being serviced by Julian’s website that allowed sex workers to have prospective clients vetted for safety reasons, leading to Julian insisting that he’s not a pimp but acknowledging that he takes twenty percent off the top as commission.

While a few side issues intrude, the ten-episode season is primarily focused on a single compelling case even though a budding odd couple romance blossoms when Haller gets involved with prosecutor Andrea Freeman (Yaya DaCosta), a frequent adversary in the courtroom.

In the second episode, Haller is representing a Hispanic male with shaved head and several face tattoos on an armed robbery charge. After testimony proves to be damning, the defendant viciously assaults Haller.

The prosecutor and Haller approach the bench when requested by the judge, who believes the attack has prejudiced the case in the eyes of the jury. The prosecutor asserts that the assault was staged so Haller could manipulate the court to declare a mistrial.

Detractors of the defense attorney, and there are many who pop up here, including the District Attorney’s investigator and former LAPD detective Neil Bishop (Holt McCallany) holding a grudge for being destroyed as a witness, would perhaps justifiably take the view that Haller is calculating.

Those who work for Haller are faithfully loyal. His second ex-wife Lorna Crane (Becki Newton), a hard-working assistant, is preparing for the bar exam which understandably causes anxiety at work.

Lorna is now married to former motorcycle gang member Cisco (Angus Sampson), who now works for Haller as an intrepid investigator willing to ride his bike all the way to Las Vegas to track down a potential witness.

Office worker Izzy Letts (Jazz Raycole), who previously chauffeured Haller in his Lincoln Navigator, is busy on the side trying to make a go of her own dance studio that’s suddenly threatened by a competitor.

One new member of Haller & Associates is Eddie Rojas (Allyn Moriyon), taking over driving for the boss, after the attorney defended him at trial on a charge of joyriding in an expensive sports car.

On the other side of the ledger, Haller must deal with plenty of unsavory characters. Prison inmate Sly Funaro Sr. (Paul Ben-Victor), a disgraced attorney, and his moron son (Christian Antidormi), are key to Haller connecting with an imprisoned cartel leader (Arturo Del Puerto).

Even sleazier is how shady DEA agent James de Marco (Michael Irby), who has ties to former police officer Neil Bishop, possibly figures into the death of prostitute Glory Days.

For anyone who enjoyed the first two seasons of “The Lincoln Lawyer,” the third season exceeds expectations such that the cliffhanger at the last episode will have you hoping no time is wasted for production to start on the next installment.

Without giving away anything that is shocking about the finale, it would be a disservice to the fan base to not have a new chapter, but given the popularity of the series so far, we should feel confident that Mickey Haller is not hanging up his shingle.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.