Author Michael Connelly to set upcoming Lincoln Lawyer novel amid LA wildfires

Those fires began just a week into the new year, on January 7. So far, at least 26 people are confirmed dead, many have been reported missing, and over 12,000 homes and businesses have burned to the ground. More than 40,000 acres have burned and the biggest fires are not even 50% contained by the Los Angeles Fire Department, which has been aided by fire crews from across the country.

"I write very contemporary novels," Connelly said in an email to readers. "They are usually set in the year they are published. Last month I began work on a novel to be published in the fall. I set it in this month, with the start of the new year coinciding with a new challenge faced by the Lincoln lawyer, Mickey Haller. Now I must start over and rebuild the story to include what has happened here in the last week. I don’t want to be exploitive or merely put it in as background. I have to find a way to make it mean something in the story and maybe to the people who read it in the fall."

With a contemporary novel set in LA during the beginning of 2025, it would be hard not to include the fires as the backdrop of the city in which the novel takes place is burning. The fires have indelibly changed the landscape to the point where landmarks, restaurants, and entire streets have been reduced to ashes and could not be referenced by Connelly except to identify what the rubble once was. At least 73 people have been arrested so far in connection with looting and burglaries of evacuated homes.

Connelly has another novel due out in the spring called Nightshade which introduces a new character to the Connelly world, Detective Stilwell who will be seen "relentlessly following his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island.

As the wind picks up in the Los Angeles area, and weather reports indicate that the extreme winds that fueled the fires may not be finished with the region yet, there's no real prediction as to when these fires will get under control.