The Lighterman

Simon Michael, often referred to as “the British John Grisham”, is a barrister (trial attorney) and the author of the best-selling Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers.

The books are set primarily in London in the 1960s and 1970s, a period of huge social change, and they explore loyalty and prejudice and what happens when justice collides with a corrupt Establishment. They’re historical and legal crime novels, but they’re also about memory, moral compromise, and the long shadow history casts over the present.

At their centre is barrister Charles Holborne, born Charlie Horowitz, a former East End boxer and occasional criminal who is drawn into cases shaped by gangs, organised crime, political interference and institutional corruption.

Moving between London’s courtrooms and the criminal underworld, the novels explore the tension between professional ambition and personal integrity, and the fragile line between justice and expediency. The series does not shy away from the class tensions and prejudices embedded within the legal profession of the time, including the racist, antisemitic and classist attitudes faced by those entering the Bar in the middle of the last century, echoes of which still resonate today.

Combining legal authenticity with gritty urban realism, the series uses crime as a lens to examine how power operates within institutions, who the law ultimately serves, and what it costs to pursue truth when the system itself is under pressure.