“Rogue Lawyer” ushers in Rudd as a potential series star for Mr. Grisham. The man has a son he loves but barely knows; an ex-wife who left him for another woman; a shockingly good way of assailing important targets, like badly written laws; and a few wild-guy qualities that are balanced by his love of golf. Roguewise, he’s right up there with Robin Hood.

“The Crossing,” the latest from Mr. Connelly, doesn’t offer Mickey Haller much chance to shine. That’s because Mr. Connelly has trouble letting Harry and Mickey occupy the same book at the same time. Harry dominates this story, with Mickey’s important function reflected mostly in the title: Mickey has asked Harry to help him investigate a criminal case, and this ought to be right up Harry’s alley. He’s an investigator, after all. But he’s used to working for the police, not for the defense. Crossing over to the dark side, as Harry puts it, is not going to make him popular with his former police colleagues. Hence, “The Crossing.”

Mr. Connelly shares some of Mr. Grisham’s storytelling skills. But he’s not a stylist, or at least not a subtle one. His narration tends to be blunt: “It all added up to spinning wheels, but they were wheels that needed to be spun.” And Harry’s methodical thinking never skips a step, at least not early in any of these novels. The best Connelly books take on terrific momentum in their final chapters, but “The Crossing” isn’t at that level. If Mr. Grisham has taken a step in an intriguing new direction, Mr. Connelly has satisfied his fans without luring any new ones.

The case for which Mickey enlists Harry concerns the gruesome murder (natch) of a woman attacked in her bed and the foregone conclusion that the police already have her killer. It’s a situation on which Sebastian Rudd would surely inveigh. DNA evidence is what makes the police so certain, but Harry never falls for anything that straightforward. Besides, there’s something at the crime scene that intrigues him, and he manages to follow that something throughout the course of a long international investigation. Once his mind fixes on something troubling, it doesn’t wander.

Harry’s doggedness is seen not only in his devotion to this one stray detail, but also in Mr. Connelly’s dedication to making his title work. Watch him find creative ways of inserting the word “crossing” into this book as many ways as he can.