Judicial Junkie.Reads

I Love Dick: The True Crime Years Chris Kraus's New Book Takes on "In Cold Blood," But Makes It Autofiction

"The Four Spent the Day Together" takes Chris Kraus from Marfa to Minnesota's Iron Range, where meth and murder blur into something haunting. Like Capote, but messier. No clean resolution, just fragments. Brilliant chaos. #NetGalley #Scribner #TheFourSpenttheDayTogether
bit.ly/4gYN3CP

Your Digital Footprint Is the New Crime Scene The Epistolary Novel Gets A Killer Tech Upgrade In Janice Hallett’s New Mystery The Judicial Junkie

📚Truth in a sworn affidavit? No. Evidence is now found in passive-aggressive WhatsApp messages. "The Killer Question" is Digital Footprint Noir at its best. And Janice Hallett proves to be the genre's Queen.

#NetGalley #BookSky

@atriabooks.bsky.social @janicehallett.bsky.social

bit.ly/3KtayI4

The Year's Best Legal Thriller Isn’t on the Crime Shelf Bruce Holsinger’s "Culpability" is a literary gut-punch where AI, family guilt and law converge after a fatal crash

The best legal thriller of the year isn’t by Grisham or Connelly. It’s Culpability—a literary novel where a self-driving crash turns a family vacation into a criminal investigation. AI may be the star witness.

@bruceholsinger.bsky.social
@spiegelandgrau.bsky.social
#BookSky

bit.ly/3W3zSql

In Defense Of The Solitary Bookworm's Mind A Terrific Cozy Mystery That Made Me Want to Cancel Plans and Read Until 4 a.m.

📚 More than a whodunit, “A Case of Mice and Murder” explores what it means to be a bookworm. Gabriel, a barrister who’d rather read, is drawn into a London murder. Beautifully written, it asks: does reading bring us closer or keep us distant? @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social #BookSky bit.ly/3KpnE8T

“Mississippi Blue 42:” A Gonzo Legal Brief for Paying College Athletes Eli Cranor’s gripping new novel is a wild, brilliant takedown of race, greed and the NCAA’s unpaid labor system

A gonzo legal thriller that sticks the landing: Cranor’s "Mississippi Blue 42" tackles race, corruption & unpaid labor in college football—with laughs, blood & duffle bags of cash.
Friday Night Lights, but NCAA—meets the DOJ.

#Booksky
@sohopress.bsky.social @mysteriousbookshop.com

bit.ly/3VKkVt2

Justice by Algorithm and Absurdity: Law, Trauma, and the Windowless Courtroom I Spent Years in Family Court. “The Dream Hotel” and “Mothers and Sons” — one speculative, one starkly realistic — show how 5-minute legal…

✨No new post this week (Labor Day pause!) but thrilled to share this: one of my early reviews was just selected for “The Stories That Shaped BAOS in 2025”—a living archive of work that resonated across the "Books Are Our Superpower" community.

@lailalalami.com

#BookSky

bit.ly/47jSUjf

The Best Literary Party I Ever Attended 9 Books that Donna Leon’s “Backstage” Added to My TBR Pile

📖What if Donna Leon threw a cocktail party and talked about opera, her favorite mysteries, what makes stories work and why Tom Ripley is the kind of sociopath you’d want a drink with? That’s the vibe of her excellent new book of essays.

#NetGalley
@groveatlantic.bsky.social

bit.ly/3JxRxU7

How to Rob a System That’s Already Robbing You This novel is “Ocean’s Eleven,” if Danny Ocean had just lost a minimum wage job and had $200,000 in student debt

Fired from retail. $200K in student debt. Hunted by the Debt Police.

Kashana Cauley’s "The Payback" is a darkly funny heist novel about fighting back when the system’s already stacked against you.

@kashana.bsky.social @atriabooks.bsky.social

#ThePayback #KashanaCauley #Booksky

bit.ly/45HCMWr

When Fiction Delivers Justice Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Dream Count” reimagines a high-profile sexual assault case, giving a voice to a victim the legal system failed

📚What happens when the courts walk away? In her author's note (yes, read it first!), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie states her t aim is to "write a wrong in the balance of stories." And she does: "Dream Count" is a reckoning. Not a verdict, but a greater truth.⚖️

#Booksky #DreamCounts

bit.ly/45LRexA

Legal Briefs: Waiting for the Next Mandalorian Episode, I Ended Up Reading a Star Wars Lawsuit Not your typical legal brief — this one’s packed with Star Wars references, courtroom drama, and a surprising sense of humor

📚This is the Way! Disney & Gina Carano have settled The Mandalorian lawsuit — no terms disclosed.

⚖️If you missed my dive into the original complaint (yes, I read the brief!) along with a Mando-inspired book list, now's a great time to catch up.

#BookSky #Mandalorian

bit.ly/46i7VS5

A Novel That Asks If Affordable Housing Is a Fairy Tale Emily Hunt Kivel’s “Dwelling” turns eviction, displacement, and late-stage capitalism into a dark, fun surreal fable

📚Have you ever felt gaslit by a rental listing? Evie's tragic (yet comedic) odyssey in "Dwelling" will make you feel seen. It’s a surreal, darkly funny, and painfully real fable about housing and a broken system.

#Booksky #NetGalley #Dwelling #EmilyHuntKivel
@fsgbooks.bsky.social

bit.ly/3Hny5J5

When Online Obsession Becomes a Legal Weapon Nicci Cloke’s “Her Many Faces” explores how a woman’s teenage browsing history — and a conspiracy site called The Rabbit Hole — becomes…

When your browser history becomes Exhibit A...
If you loved “Gone Girl’’” or “The Silent Patient," check out Nicci Cloke's “Her Many Faces.” A twisty satisfying, psychological thriller exploring online radicalization.

@wmmorrowbooks.bsky.social

#Booksky #HerManyFaces #NetGalley

bit.ly/40F8P7A

What Stacey Abrams’s “Coded Justice” Taught Me About AI’s Ethical Frontier A Gripping Legal Thriller Where Due Diligence Collides with Untamed Algorithms

📚Fixing veteran care & bigotry with AI sounds noble—until Abrams's gripping "Coded Justice" shows Milo hallucinating patients & faking alignment. "Have I built loveable Data, or evil HAL?”

@doubledaybooks.bsky.social
@staceyabrams.com

#BookSky #NetGalley #CodedJustice #MustRead

bit.ly/40rUfAj

Legal Briefs: Waiting for the Next Mandalorian Episode, I Ended Up Reading a Star Wars Lawsuit Not your typical legal brief — this one’s packed with Star Wars references, courtroom drama, and a surprising sense of humor

📖 My patience for a new #Mandalorian installment is running thin, so I'm hitting the books! From a wild #StarWars lawsuit ⚖️ to "The Rescue" graphic novel 🚀& @penguinrandom's reading list, I'm staying busy in the galaxy.

#Booksky

@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

bit.ly/46i7VS5

Charell Star’s “Trash Bag Tales & Other Stories from an Accidentally Happy Life” Charell Star’s Trash Bag Tales: & Other Stories from an Accidentally Happy Life is a memoir of remarkable personal resilience, and that very quality makes it a must-read. It’s profoundly sad, smart…

📚From navigating the complexities of the foster care system to finding moments of joy hitting a tennis ball—Charell Star's memoir is a deeply honest personal narrative, showcasing the powerful impact of advocacy. 💪

#BookSky #CharellStar #TrashBagTales

@fostercarefilm.bsky.social

bit.ly/3UhAFTI

Legal Briefs: Voter Fraud, But Make It Constitutional How Shteyngart’s “Vera, or Faith” Inverts American History to Redefine Citizenship

📚Gary Shteyngart's "Vera, or Faith" brilliantly envisions a near future, satirizing politics via a chilling "Five-Three” Amendment. A prescient, must-read novel!

Still dreaming of his ultimate full on legal thriller. 🙏🏻

@shteyngart.bsky.social.

#VeraOrFaith #BookSky #NetGalley

bit.ly/3ImQplF

“The Silver State”: A Masterclass in What Law School Doesn’t Teach You Gabriel Urza doesn’t just give us a legal thriller; he gives us a raw, honest window into the human cost of justice

📚Santi Elcano is a public defender answering endless voice mails, representing clients who probably aren't innocent, and procrastinating on visiting a client on death row. Highly recommend. Just don't expect closure.

🙏ARC from
@algonquinbooks.bsky.social

#Booksky #TheSilverState

bit.ly/3IgtOqT

Summering in the Hamptons? Better Lawyer Up Franklin’s “Great Black Hope” delivers literary firepower; Burke’s “The Note” is a twisty legal thriller

📚 If your July 4 weekend involves the Hamptons, bad choices, or a bingeable legal drama, these page turners are for you!

⚖️ Both with lawyers you definitely want on speed dial.

(A repost of an earlier blog.)

#Booksky #GreatBlackHope
#TheNote

bit.ly/4nyljaQ

Murky is good. The missing legal guardrails is all too real—pitch perfect. And SCOTUS being MIA, is (sadly) on brand with the Roberts Court.

The Constitution Didn’t Save Him. Google Did. I kept waiting for the Constitution to show up in Kevin Nguyen’s fantastic dystopian novel “My Documents.” It never did.

Kevin Nguyen’s "My Documents" reimagines Japanese American internment for the tech age. A wickedly smart, darkly funny, devastating look at a future following one family when mass incarceration meets Amazon Prime. bit.ly/4et8J8V

@knguyen.bsky.social
@oneworldbooks.bsky.social

#Booksky #MustRead

Legal Briefs: When Hamilton & Burr Were Co-Counsel “The Girl from Greenwich Street” brings America’s first murder trial to life and two other excellent historical courtroom dramas

Because nothing says “hot girl summer” like 18th-century court transcripts, dueling lawyers and and questionable verdicts.

3 fantastic page-turners based on real-life historical trials.

#Booksky

@laurenwillig.bsky.social
@harpercollins.bsky.social
@henryholtbooks.bsky.social

bit.ly/4432QLY

This Wild Novel Made Me Rethink Everything About Easy Money Megan Abbott’s “El Dorado Drive” is a vodka-soaked ride through suburban angst and the seductive logic of a scam

Get in, losers—we’re building a pyramid scheme. 💸 Megan Abbott’s "El Dorado Drive" is a razor-sharp, page-turning suburban noir à la "Big Little Lies," but with fewer yoga moms and much more financial fraud.
👉 bit.ly/44jvsPS
#Booksky #LawFi
@meganabbott.bsky.social
@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social

📚 Legal Briefs: On My Radar!

I just finished the Kindle preview of Renée Ahdieh's "Park Avenue" and I'm hooked.

Jia Song, a newly minted junior partner, gets a huge, hush-hush case involving a famous Korean family. High stakes from the start!

On the #NYPL waitlist!

#Booksky
#LawFi
#BookRec

📚Move Over, Atticus Finch. This Book Gave Me a New Favorite Lawyer.

Karim Dimechkie's "The Uproar" introduces Aberto Barbosa: a strategic, disruptive, and fierce legal hero fighting for the marginalized—while nudging the ethical redline.

🔗Link to review in bio

#Booksky #NetGalley #LittleBrown

📚Two standout novels
—Laila Lalami's near-future dystopia in “The Dream Hotel” and Adam Haslett's real-world immigration purgatory in “Mothers and Sons”—explore how lives are forever altered in five-minute hearings.

@pantheonbooks.sky.social
@lailalalami.com
@littlebrown.bsky.social

#Booksky

This Friday’s Legal Briefs:
3 Page-Turning Mystery & Crime Reads

🔍 "Marble Hall Murders": A mystery within a mystery.

🍵 "Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping": A tea-sipping sleuth.

🚬 "Sins of the Survivors": 1930s underworld noir, packed with injustice.

🔗 Review in bio
#Booksky #NetGalley #LawFi

Going to the Hamptons this summer? Bring sunscreen, a great book—and your lawyer’s number on speed dial.

Check out my review of two twisty high-stakes reads:

📖Great Black Hope” by Rob Franklin
📖”The Note” by Alafair Burke

🔗Link in bio

@alafairburke.sky.social

#BookRecommendations #BlueskyBooks

Judicial Junkie – Medium Ever read a courtroom scene in a legal thriller and yell, “That’s totally wrong!”? Same here. Surprised when they get it right? Even better.

Legal Briefs: This week’s roundup of LawFi literary landscape just posted

⚖️Scribbling Justices publishing conflicts, verified buyer gatekeeping, and the fall crime list gets a Tartan Noir icon

📚Plus, a noteworthy memoir is on the horizon

🔗Link medium.com/judicial-junkie

#BookSky #Books

Abigail Dean's "The Death of Us" is a deeply affecting novel that left me thinking long after the final page. It's a story about trauma, yes, but also about law, testimony and the uneasy relationship between grief and justice.

🔗 Review on Medium.com/judicial-junkie

#Booksky #BookReview

LawFi (noun): A genre
that digs deep into justice,
power, and human nature.
Literary fiction with a law twist.

These 5 sizzling legal reads bring the courtroom chaos to the beach. Think LawFi on the Rocks.

🔗Full list —link in bio.

#LawFi #SummerReads #BookBlogger #ScandalsandSubpeonas