If Anatomy of a Murder is blessed with realism, it is likely because its author was a real lawyer writing about a real case. Robert Traver was the pen name of John D. Voelker, a lawyer and judge in Michigan before he began writing full time. A 1928 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Voelker was suddenly solo—like Anatomy’s protagonist Paul Biegler, a county prosecutor voted out of office. Before his appointment to the state judiciary, he represented a young murder defendant accused of killing a man who had raped his wife. Shortly after its publication, the novel was adapted for the stage, but the script was optioned by director Otto Preminger for his highly acclaimed 1959 film. The stage adaptation was finally published in 1964. The popularity of Anatomy endures among lawyers because it combines classic courtroom tactics with classic courtroom mistakes, as well as the realistic dilemma of a lawyer defending a client he, on some level, detests.

NOTE: Voelker’s pen name was derived from his brother’s first name and his mother’s maiden name.