My Review (5 stars out of 5)
Lawyer Charlie Trust has his view of California’s Carbon Beach spoiled one morning when sheriff’s deputies march across to the house of one of Charlie’s neighbours. Soon, two bodies are carried away in black bags. Arnie Duncan and his wife have been shot in their living room. The lack of a forced entry or any signs of a break in suggest the killer must be the couple’s son, 23-year-old Jerry.
This is book 3 in the Charlie Trust Legal Thriller series, and it gets off to a great start. Charlie is roped in to give advice to the chief suspect and soon realises that another case – that of brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez, who are accused of shooting their parents – might have an impact on Jerry Duncan via media speculation. Several of Charlie’s new acquaintances – including the likes of Larry Hagman and Angie Dickinson – pump him for information. They reason that as he lives just along the beach from the crime scene, he must know something.
This is an intriguing read and is as good as any of the author’s other novels. The exploration of how the media might influence a trial in those early days of the Internet is fascinating. As with all his other books, there’s the usual Jake Needham layer of dry humour simmering away beneath the more serious themes of the book, and, as always, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Another first-class legal thriller from one of my favourite authors.
Colin Garrow 