5. Kenzie And Gennaro Series By Dennis LeHane
Now, technically one of these books has been adapted into a film. The novel was titled Gone Baby Gone and Ben Affleck turned it into an excellent film a few years back. That's all fine and good, but LeHane has proven his writing is made for the screen and there are many more of his stories to adapt. Affleck is in production on his latest, Live By Night and Mystic River won a few Oscars about ten years back. The point is this be in the Dennis LeHane business. He's written many stand alone novels but Gone Baby Gone was only one of a series so far six books long featuring his on-again off-again friends/lovers PI duo, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. Set in Boston, these novels ooze "real." The characters are all working class Bostonians and the cases are subsequently set in realistic molds. Honestly, Gone Baby Gone and its direct sequel, Moonlight Mile could be seen as standalones within the series. The first two books, A Drink Before The War and Darkness Take My Hand would make for one of the grittiest, shocking and epic first two seasons television could offer. This is the type of show a channel like FX should be looking to snap up in order to replace what they're losing in Sons Of Anarchy after next season.