Criminal & Lawyer

The true, bewildering story of a young woman’s disappearance, the nightmare of a small town obsessed with delivering justice, and the bizarre dream of a poor, uneducated man accused of murder—a case that chillingly parallels the one, occurring in the very same town, chronicled by John Grisham in The Innocent Man.On April 28, 1984, Denice Haraway disappeared from her job at a convenience store on the outskirts of Ada, Oklahoma, and the sleepy town erupted. Tales spread of rape, mutilation, and murder, and the police set out on a relentless mission to bring someone to justice. Six months later, two local men—Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot—were arrested and brought to trial, even though they repudiated their “confessions,” no body had been found, no weapon had been produced, and no eyewitnesses had come forward. The Dreams of Ada is a story of politics and morality, of fear and obsession. It is also a moving, compelling portrait of one small town living through a nightmare.

A wealthy couple is brutally murdered in their kitchen. The only witness, their six-year-old daughter goes missing. The child’s birth mother is charged with the crime. Small town lawyer Cass Leary takes the case that could rip her family apart. Her sister Vangie stands accused in the double homicide of an affluent, Ann Arbor couple. All the physical evidence points to Vangie’s guilt and Cass knows she’s been keeping secrets. But, is she truly capable of murder? As Cass digs deeper, dark suspicion grows against her own sister. It’s a race against time as the clues pile up against Vangie and the chances of finding her little girl alive dwindle. To find the truth and unmask a killer, Cass will have to risk her reputation and her life. Silent Witness is the second book in series of high-stakes legal thrillers. If you like blood-pumping action, compelling characters, and twisted crime conspiracies, then you’ll love Robin James’s page-turning tale. \ Buy Silent Witness to take a ride with this edge-of-your-seat crime thriller today!

With his terrific first novel, Special Circumstances, Sheldon Siegel delivered legal fiction so exciting, it drew comparisons with the very top tier of courtroom thrillers. Now he has a new challenge for defense attorney Mike Daley--ex-priest, ex-husband, ex-public defender--and it’s a high-profile zinger: a case he doesn’t think he can win for a client he can’t stand. It starts with a phone call Mike Daley never expected to get, from District Attorney Prentice Marshall Gates III, San Francisco’s chief law enforcement officer and front-runner candidate for California attorney general. Friends they’re not, but Gates needs Daley now--badly. He’s just been arrested. A couple of hours earlier he woke up in his hotel room and found the dead body of a young male prostitute in the bed. Prosecutors are already talking the death penalty, and there’s nothing in the mounting evidence to convince Daley and his partner--and ex-wife--Rosie of Gates’s innocence. But even if he’s lying, it’s their job to defend him. Sure enough, the deeper Mike and Rosie dig, the seamier their findings. From a shady Internet entrepreneur who trades flesh for cash to a prominent businessman who uses muscle to keep his enterprise prospering, Mike and Rosie chase down leads that take them from the depths of the Mission District, where drugs and bodies are always for sale, to the gated mansions of Pacific Heights, frantically trying to piece together the shocking truth of what actually happened, even as the trial itself is under way.

A riveting investigation of the brutal murders of two Dartmouth professors –– a book that, like In Cold Blood, reveals the chilling reality behind a murder that captivated the nation.On a cold night in January 2001, the idyllic community of Dartmouth College was shattered by the discovery that two of its most beloved professors had been hacked to death in their own home. Investigators searched helplessly for clues linking the victims, Half and Susanne Zantop, to their murderer or murderers. A few weeks later, across the river, in the town of Chelsea, Vermont, police cars were spotted in front of the house of high school senior Robert Tulloch. The police had come to question Tulloch and his best friend, Jim Parker. Soon , the town discovered the incomprehensible reality that Tulloch and Parker, two of Chelsea's brightest and most popular sons, were now fugitives, wanted for the murders of Half and Susanne Zantop.Authors Mitchell Zuckoff and Dick Lehr provide a vivid explication of a murder that captivated the nation, as well as dramatic revelations about the forces that turned two popular teenagers into killers. Judgement Ridge conveys a deep appreciation for the lives (and the devastating loss) of Half and Susanne Zantop, while also providing a clear portrait of the killers, their families, and their community –and, perhaps, a warning to any parent about what evil may lurk in the hearts of boys.

A killer is putting the mangled, lifeless bodies of prostitutes on display in sleepy Northeast Tennessee. The murderous spree is accelerating. Two detectives, Lukas Miller from Johnson City and Brooke Stevens from Kingsport, have been assigned to hunt the killer down and stop him. Miller and Stevens are considered the best in their respective departments, and although they've never met, their superiors order them to work together in a coordinated effort to put an end to the violence as quickly as possible. Their reputations, and perhaps their careers, are on the line. As the body count grows, Lukas and Brooke find themselves growing more and more desperate to catch a cunning psychopath who delights in painting their terrified towns red with blood. Will Lukas and Brooke finally end the nightmare? Or will the hunters become the hunted? "Pratt's richly developed characters are vivid and believable..." -- Publisher's Weekly

Almost didn't read it after looking at some of the reviews but glad I did. Interesting look at the world through the eyes of an honest but very imperfect lawyer with a "screw up and it will bite you in the ass" lesson spun in. Yes, somewhat predictable, maybe dated but darned entertaining. And I don't get hung up on legal technicalities; having spent way too much time in courtrooms I wouldn't be able to enjoy any work of legal fiction if i was bothered by a little creative license. I paid for entertainment, not legal advice, and this was a very entertaining spin.

Defending a woman accused of murdering the man who sexually assaulted her, Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck must uncover where the truth lies between innocence, vengeance, and justice in this spellbinding tale of suspense—based on shocking true-life events—from the bestselling author of Gone AgainAccording to the FBI, the most dangerous place for a woman between the ages of twenty and thirty is in a relationship with a man. Those statistics become all too personal when Jack Swyteck takes on a new client tied to his past. It begins at the airport, where Jack is waiting to meet his old high school buddy, Kevin Ingraham, a high-powered banker based in Hong Kong, coming to Miami for his young daughter’s surgery. But their long-awaited reunion is abruptly derailed when the police arrest Kevin’s wife, Isabelle, in the terminal, accusing her of conspiring to kill the man who raped her in college. Jack quickly agrees to represent Isa, but soon discovers that to see justice done, he must separate truth from lies—an undertaking that proves more complicated than the seasoned attorney expects.Inspired by an actual case involving a victim of sexual assault sent to prison for the death of her attacker, James Grippando’s twisty thriller brilliantly explores the fine line between victim and perpetrator, innocence and guilt, and cold-blooded revenge and rightful retribution.

From the “master of the legal thriller” (Chicago Sun-Times) John Lescroart comes a dramatic family drama in which attorney Dismas Hardy is called on to defend a former client against the accusation of murder.Dismas Hardy is looking forward to cutting back his work hours and easing into retirement after recovering from two gunshot wounds. He is determined to spend more time with his family and even reconnect with his distant son, Vincent. But Dismas just can’t stay away from the courtroom for long and soon he is pulled into an intense family drama with fatal consequences. Grant Carver, the vigorous patriarch of the Carver family and its four-generations owned family business, has been murdered. His bookkeeper Abby Jarvis, whom Hardy had defended on a DUI charge eleven years prior, is the prime suspect after police discover she’s been embezzling funds from the company—but she insists she did not kill her boss. As he prepares to defend her, Dismas investigates the Carver clan and discovers the dark, twisted secrets within the family. It seems that Abby was not the only one who stood to profit from the company’s $25 million dollar market value. From jealous children to gold-digging girlfriends, Dismas has his work cut out for him in sifting through mud flinging, backstabbing, and accusations of blackmail. But Dismas not only has to save his client’s life but his own, as it soon becomes clear that someone has a painted a target on his back, too. With Lescroart’s signature “smart, riveting, and utterly compelling” (Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author) prose, this whip smart and nail-bitingly suspenseful thriller will keep you guessing until the very last page.

I'm pretty sure I read one of Clifford Irving's novels many, many years ago, although for the life of me I don't recall which one. Then, when he got embroiled in the great hoax - writing a fake autobiography of the reclusive Howard Hughes - I pretty much lost interest in the guy. Even after doing jail time, though, he never stopped writing - and from what information I can glean, he's always been pretty darned good at the craft.As I've noted in many reviews, I belong to a number of websites that offer free and low-cost books in Kindle format. Not too long ago, I found this book, described as a "legal thriller," on sale for 99 cents (as we speak, it's going for $2.99 at Amazon). The plot sounded interesting, so I threw caution to the wind and blew my dollar on it. And what do you know? I really enjoyed reading it.To be sure, I'd call it weird; while it describes the life of a man and woman in love - and includes a trial in which the man, an attorney, defends the woman's elderly parents in a court of law - the whole thing is woven around a place that could be likened to a communal Fountain of Youth. Set not in Florida but high in the mountains of Colorado near Aspen, the tiny town of Springhill fiercely protects a big secret: a water source that, apparently, allows them to live almost unlimited years while retaining their youthful appearance and mental and physical strengths. Along the way, their solidarity has been augmented by the passing down of a special language ("harping," for instance, means seriously discussing issues among themselves with the intent of persuading one to a different point of view).Cool so far? Well, hear this: The townspeople's ruling committee agreed at the outset that 100 years is the limit; any person who reaches that milestone must agree to die voluntarily. Death is accomplished humanely (the ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide aside), and all the denizens are okay with that simply because they get to live far longer than most humans and in much better shape. Everything, it seems, has remained true to plan for generations; but let's be honest: had it remained so, this book wouldn't exist. What happened is that Sophie Henderson, one of the townspeople and a committee member, met and fell in love with Manhattan attorney Dennis Conway, who visited Aspen to ski. Dennis, who has two young children and no wife, pulls up his New York stakes, packs up the kids and moves to Springhill to be with his love. Then, a local couple and friends of Sophie's parents are found dead, and her parents are accused of helping them commit suicide. Whether right or wrong from a moral standpoint, such assistance is against the law (this book was published in 1996, BTW) and the region's law enforcement insists that they be brought to trial. Dennis, believing them to be innocent, agrees to represent Sophie's mother, "Bitsy"; her father, Scott, himself an attorney, insists on representing himself.From this point on, my lips are sealed; suffice it to say it was hard for me to put this one down (I even kept one eye on my Kindle while I was watching the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm thankful that I managed to finish it before the Final Four games, when two of my favorite teams - Kentucky and Duke - will take to the court against other teams and hopefully face off in the championship game.

I'm going to be really, really kind and give this one 3 stars. It is right up there towards the top of the most over-written books I've read. When the narrator says that something is going to be boring and goes ahead and tells it anyway...not just once, but several times, I have to wonder who is editing this stuff. After going through page after page of boring testimony then we have to go through page after page of defense and then prosecutorial summation! Blah, Blah Blah!!So whatever happened to the discovery phase?? There was so much that was sprung in the trial that should have been brought out in discovery...I know it might have hurt the plot line, but other writers get around this issue.There was page after page of marriage, divorce, soul searching, etc., etc., that had NOTHING to do with the main plot. I kept hoping he'd tie it in somehow, but never did. Neither were the affairs.On top of all of this, this was a book that was SCREAMING to be told in first person. Instead of the author TELLING us what was his characters were thinking and doing, why not just let them say it for themselves??That was the bad. The good, and only redeeming thing about this book was that the story...minus all the meaningless crap...was fairly compelling.

INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY. A young, ambitious lawyer is eager to prove he is better than the father who abandoned him and worthy of the devoted mother who raised him beyond the siren call of the mobster dominated family he grew up in. Working as a Bronx Legal Aid Attorney he learns how to twist the system, how to become an unbeatable defense lawyer, and he his peacock proud of his perfect record-not a single conviction. But it's 1982. The Spiderman rapist is on the loose and New York City is a city in fear. When an outraged rape victim commits suicide right before his eyes, searching for absolution, he grabs the headline case of a teacher's aide accused of molesting three students. Armed with a firm belief in his client's innocence, he knocks the pegs out from under the prosecution's case. When one of the children turns up dead, he discovers that his client may be strangely connected to the Spiderman. Digging deeper, horrifying revelations about his family's past collide with the true identity of the sadistic sociopath behind the Spiderman's rampage. In the process, this good lawyer comes face-to-face with his greatest conflict and deepest fear: to win, really win-save the city and even the woman he loves-must he sacrifice every principle he believes in and embrace his family's mafia past to become judge, jury, and executioner?

\ In this mesmerizing tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author Phillip Margolin, attorney Amanda Jaffe—star of Wild Justice, Ties That Bind, Proof Positive, and Fugitive—becomes entangled in a murder case involving Big Oil, an estranged father and son, and the greatest ethical dilemma of her career.\ Dale Masterson, senior partner in a large Portland, Oregon, law firm, has become wealthy and successful representing the interests of oil and coal companies. When his colleague, Christine Larson, is found dead, Masterson’s business practices are put under surveillance and a lower-level employee stands accused.The controversy surrounding the firm is magnified tenfold when Dale is found beaten to death in his mansion. But this time Dale’s son, Brandon, is seen fleeing the scene. A dedicated eco-warrior obsessed with saving the planet, Brandon confesses to killing his father—for revenge, he claims—on behalf of all the people whose lives are being destroyed by his father’s questionable clients.Veteran lawyer Amanda Jaffe is hired to represent Brandon, but what seems like an open-and-shut case quickly begins to unravel. If Brandon is really innocent—a radical activist determined to martyr himself for his cause—then who viciously murdered Dale Masterson? And what, if any, is the connection between his murder and the murder of Christine Larson? Smart, fierce, and unafraid of the truth even if it puts her in danger, Amanda begins to look deeper. What she finds will force the seasoned legal pro to make the hardest professional decision of her life.

I really did try to read this terrible book. I have a rule, I can't remember whether it's the 50-page rule or the 100-page rule, but the point is, it's a rule, and I live by it: reach that page and you are committed, like the Clintons' marriage. You do not abandon ship! So for me to drop this book at p. 154 should tell you something. What it should tell you is that I had reached the point in the book where the potbellied, 50-something blue-collar lawyer Mack has gone to the apartment of his hostile black law firm colleague Glyndora, who has very reluctantly let him in, after a few minutes he has placed his hands on her nipples, felt an enormous sexual charge, he runs out to buy Seagram's and condoms, and when he gets back to her apartment she won't let him in. Which I was elated about, as I could not have endured a sex scene between them at that or any other point.I dearly love a good police procedural, so clearly I have nothing against the police, or their procedures. But it's impossible to overstate how much I hate writing like this. I'm not a fan of the hardboiled or noir, and this is just ridiculous:"She was pointing out the features of her inner sanctum and I, the former sot who'd done more wandering than a minstrel, was at home conducting a perverse and private romance with Mary Fivefingers.""Glyndora is past forty and showing little wear. This is one good-looking woman and she knows it - built like the brick shithouse you've always heard about, five foot ten in her stocking feet and female every inch of it, a phenomenal set of headlights, a big black fanny, and a proud imperial face, with a majestic look and an aquiline schnozzola that reports on Semitic adventures in West Africa centuries ago."For every sentence like this Turow should be sentenced to 20 hours of community service, perhaps scrubbing the shit out of brick shithouses, or representing me pro bono when I punch him in the face.

In the summer of 1999, in the tiny west Texas town of Tulia, thirty-nine people, almost all of them black, were arrested and charged with dealing powdered cocaine. The operation, a federally-funded investigation performed in cooperation with the local authorities, was based on the work of one notoriously unreliable undercover officer. At trial, the prosecution relied almost solely on the uncorroborated, and contradictory, testimony of that officer, Tom Coleman. Despite the flimsiness of the evidence against them, virtually all of the defendants were convicted and given sentences as high as ninety-nine years. Tom Coleman was named a Texas Lawman of the Year for his work.Tulia is the story of this town, the bust, the trials, and the heroic legal battle that ultimately led to the reversal of the convictions in the summer of 2003. Laws have been changed in Texas as a result of the scandal, and the defendants have earned a measure of bittersweet redemption. But the story is much bigger than the tale of just one bust. As Tulia makes clear, these events are the latest chapter in a story with themes as old as the country itself. It is a gripping, marvelously well-told tale about injustice, race, poverty, hysteria, and desperation in rural America.

An innocent man is accused of murder. His enemies want blood. And criminal defense attorney Tex Hunter is the only hope he has left. Robert Sulzberger appeared to have a perfect life—a respected position in the City Council, a lovely family, a house with all the trimmings—but behind the façade, his life was crumbling. Drawn into a world of crime and corruption, Sulzberger couldn’t find a way out. He couldn’t escape. And when he tried to walk away, he found himself behind bars. The trial captures the media’s attention and the dark forces of politics are thrown into the limelight. As the son of a convicted serial killer, Tex Hunter knows just how dangerous those forces can be. In a case full of twists and turns, Hunter battles against deception, fraud, and cover-ups; risking everything in the most difficult case of his career. Can justice triumph against corruption? Or will the dark side of politics bury the truth forever?

Courtroom 302 is the fascinating story of one year in Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse, the busiest felony courthouse in the country. Here we see the system through the eyes of the men and women who experience it, not only in the courtroom but in the lockup, the jury room, the judge's chambers, the spectators' gallery. From the daily grind of the court to the highest-profile case of the year, Steve Bogira’s masterful investigation raises fundamental issues of race, civil rights, and justice in America.