Few writers understand courtroom drama quite like Steve Cavanagh. A practising lawyer before becoming a bestselling author of legal thrillers, he has built a devoted following through his Eddie Flynn series, the tenth of which – One of Us is Guilty – is out later this month.
But which are the courtroom dramas he reads himself? Here, Cavanagh shares the five legal thrillers that shaped his life and writing…
Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer
“This encapsulates everything I love about legal fiction. Rumpole, a defence barrister, is such a brilliantly drawn, almost mischievous character, dealing with all the moral rules – and, more importantly, the moral grey areas – of being a lawyer. The courtroom scenes are exceptional because Mortimer, a gifted advocate, really knew what he was writing about.
“The book is a collection of short stories, so you get all sorts of cases – dodgy policemen, gangsters, MPs accused of wrongdoing – and is the first of what became a classic series. Rumpole remains one of the greatest legal dramas in fiction, and I come back to it again and again.”
