COST of MALICE by H. Mitchell Caldwell




Published in 2024 by Nine Innings Press.

Cost of Malice is the third novel featuring attorney Jake Clearwater. Jake is an on-again off-again law professor who is often tempted to trade the classroom for the courtroom.  

Clearwater is offered a chance to sit on an informal council of leaders in the prosecutor's office. Cases that may be tough to win are brought to this council and they brainstorm possible strategies and determine if they are even worth the effort.

The book deals with three of these cases. 

Case one is a murder case in which the two primary witnesses are jailhouse snitches.

Case two is a horrific child abuse case in which one spouse literally beat a child to death at the direction of the other spouse. Clearwater wants to convict them both equally despite the fact that one of them literally never laid a finger on the victim.

Case three is a school shooting case modeled heavily on the Oxford, Michigan case that ended in April of 2024.

It feels right that Clearwater goes from one case to another - just like it happens in real life. Also, the three cases are all challenging and controversial in their own ways. 

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It is well-written. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Cost of Malice by H. Mitchell Caldwell.

The first book of this series can be found here: Cost of Arrogance.

Note: I was sent a free copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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