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.

COST of ARROGANCE (Jake Clearwater #1) by H. Mitchell Caldwell

Published in October of 2021 by Nine Innings Press.

Cost of Arrogance features Jake Clearwater who used to be a prosecutor. However, rough and tumble office politics encouraged him to take a job as a law professor. He is happy with his choice, but he decides to take on long shot death penalty appeal after being asked by an organization called Death Penalty Project.

The argument in the appeal is that the man on death row is there because of an incompetent defense lawyer in the original trial. The trial was for the murder of a married couple.  The client knew that his lawyer was not doing a good job so he made a spectacle of himself - cursing, yelling and more in front of the jury. Considering that he had already served serious prison time in the past, the jury was only too happy to put this angry felon on death row - after all, if he's this crazy during the trail, it's not hard to imagine that he killed two people. 

Clearwater successfully argues that the defense was incompetent and is assigned as the attorney in the re-trial. In the re-trial he will go against the people in the prosecutor's office where he used to work. The prosecutor in the re-trial will be the man who basically drove him out. 

And that's when things start to get really interesting - and not always in a good way...

The first novel in what is intended to be a series of novels can suffer from too much world-building - establishing all of the intended characters and all of the intended locations that the series could possibly include in its run. Happily, Caldwell does not give in to that temptation.

The courtroom scenes are well done - with the exception of just having too many dramatic moments to interrupt the trial. I can't discuss them without revealing the plot, so just let me say that the author went to the same plot device well one too many times.

That being said, I would be more than happy to read another installment of this series.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here:  COST of ARROGANCE (Jake Clearwater #1) by H. Mitchell Caldwell.

Note: I received a free Advanced Readers Copy of this book from the publisher so that I could make an honest review. 

THE COLOR of LAW (audiobook) (Scott Fenney #1) by Mark Gimenez

Published in 2005 by Random House Audio.

Read by Stephen Hoye
Duration: 12 hours, 21 minutes.

Unabridged

Scott Fenney has it all. The former college football star is a partner in the premier law firm in Dallas. He has a beautiful wife, a daughter that adores him, a Ferrari and a house in an elite neighborhood. 

Dallas, Texas

One day, a federal judge asks Fenney to take on a tough case. The son of a prominent resident of Dallas is alleged to have been murdered by a prostitute that he had picked up earlier in the evening. He was shot in the head by her pistol and her pistol was found by his body. Fenney was asked to defend the prostitute in court because the judge was convinced by a speech Fenney gave about how Atticus Finch from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird should be the role model for all lawyers. Plus, Fenney's big-time law firm actually has access to the resources needed to defend a death penalty case

It is a federal crime because the victim held a federal job. He held that job because his father is one the Senators from Texas and is the leading Republican nominee for President.

Fenney accepts the job even though he really doesn't believe the hyperbole from his Atticus Finch speech - you simply cannot turn down a federal judge. But, he has no idea what he is up against and he finds out the old boy network is strong...

*****

The Color of Law is really two stories in one. The legal aspect of the case (the accused person, her case, her lawyers) is pretty cut and dry. But, the case is necessary for the more important part of the story - the changes that happen to Scott Fenney.

The narrator of the audiobook telegraphs this angle of the story from the very beginning. He has a sort of mocking tone - the tone of an all-knowing narrator that is setting up his character for a lot of well-deserved uncomfortable change. 

This was a an interesting audiobook. It was not a great novel - it was often heavy handed and obvious. But, it was entertaining and I wanted to find out exactly what happened in the end. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here:THE COLOR of LAW (audiobook) (Scott Fenney #1) by Mark Gimenez.

TIES that BIND (Amanda Jaffe #3) by Phillip Margolin

Originally published in 2003.

The most likely candidate to win the presidency is an Oregon Senator. He has a winning public personae, but he is a violent, horrible man in reality. He beats a high end prostitute to death simply because he enjoys inflicting violence. His people cover it up. Everyone is shocked when this Senator is found beaten to death. It looks like the prostitute's pimp killed him. When the pimp kills his court-appointed attorney in the lock up, no one will defend him until Amanda Jaffe is convinced to do it.

Once Amanda starts her investigation, it turns out that things are a lot worse than she thought...

I almost stopped reading this book after the first 50 pages or so. There are very few likable characters anywhere in this book. Everyone seems to be outright evil or compromised.  The only real positive was that the horrible Senator character died a violent death. Let's face it, that's not much of a positive.

But, I stuck with it and, eventually, this book turns into a solid page-turner. It was a welcome change of pace from the non-fiction I have been reading lately.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: TIES that BIND (Amanda Jaffe #3) by Phillip Margolin.

DOUBLE TAP (Paul Madriani #8) by Steve Martini

Originally published in 2005.

Synopsis:

A controversial CEO of a tech company is murdered in her own home. The motive is not clear, but her former bodyguard who is also her former lover is arrested for the crime. He claims that he was framed. He is accused of stalking her, he claims he was re-hired off of the books and was actually protecting her because she felt like she was being followed.

Emiliano Ruiz's case was dropped by his original attorney, but Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds pick it up only to find that it looks like a slam-dunk case for the prosecutor. Ruiz's pistol is the murder weapon. He has no proof that he was re-hired to protect the victim and he knows everything about her security system.

But, there is something about the case that convinces Madriani and Hinds that there is more here than meets the eye...

My take:

This is a so-so legal thriller. It's all a little too clandestine for my tastes and its conclusion was a "gotcha" ending. But, the backstory of Madriani's uncle that suffered from PTSD from his service in the Korean War was very powerful - all the more so when you read the last chapter of the book.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Double Tap by Steve Martini.

Sleight of Hand: A Novel of Suspense (Dana Cutler #4) (audiobook) by Phillip Margolin

Fantastic Narration by Jonathan Davis

Published by Harper Audio in April of 2013.
Performed by Jonathan Davis.
Duration: 8 hours, 10 minutes.

Unabridged.

I have been a fan of Phillip Margolin for years but I have been disappointed with some of his newer books. Sleight of Hand started out fairly weak but the second half was much stronger.

There are two plots at work in this novel. Dana Cutler, appearing in her fourth novel is hired for a bizarre cross country case involving a 500-year-old scepter from the Ottoman Empire. The other story involves fashionable couple Horace and Carrie Blair. Horace Blair is a multi-millionaire international businessman and Carrie is much younger and is a career-focused prosecutor. When Carrie disappears, Horace is charged with her murder and eventually these two stories come together with a true sociopath and that's when the book starts to move.

The best part of this audiobook was the performance of the reader, Jonathan Davis. He told the story (the narration part) with a variety voices, sometimes ironic, sometimes earnest, sometimes neutral. His character voices were excellent. He covered a wide variety of characters - Hispanic, African American, Russian, old, young, male and female - with a great deal of skill. It was like having a whole crew of actors reading the book.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book can be purchased on Amazon here: Sleight of Hand (Dana Cutler).

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on June 10, 2013.

Capitol Murder (Ben Kincaid #14) by William Bernhardt

Originally published in 2006.

Years ago I worked at a used book store and I was introduced to William Berhnardt's Ben Kincaid series by a co-worker. Pretty soon, all of us were reading the series and recommending it to others and they were moving off the shelf pretty briskly. Ben Kincaid does that to you - he is a likable guy with a rumpled suit and no ego that just wants to do what is best for his friends, family and, of course, his clients.

I haven't read a Ben Kincaid novel in a long time (8 years according to the other Ben Kincaid review by me: Murder One). The good and the bad thing is that William Bernhardt's Ben Kincaid is a lot like Janet Evanovich' s Stephanie Plum. Despite all of the different adventures and experiences, the characters just do not change. Read book 5, book 10, book 14 - it does not matter. Just jump right in. Of course, this is a mixed blessing. It is an invitation to being stale, but also a recognition that people like comfortable characters.

In Capitol Murder, an aide to Oklahoma's senior Senator is found dead in his secret hideaway in the capitol building itself just after a video of them involved in a sexual act is released. Ben Kincaid grew up with the senator and Ben is summoned to lead his defense. His investigator, Loving, digs up enough information to discover that there is a lot more to this case and the victim than meets the eye, including a hidden world of vampires and sex clubs.

Bernhardt decides to keep Kincaid's defense hidden from the reader. The reader learns about the strategies as the case proceeds, which is not the way most legal thrillers work. I found it frustrating and I found the back story on the victim to be quite ridiculous.

I have to give this book 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Capitol Murder (Ben Kincaid #14) by William Bernhardt.

Reviewed on September 22, 2012.

Compelling Evidence (Paul Madriani #1) by Steve Martini

The book that launched the series

Originally published in 1992.

Back in 1992 the first book in the Paul Madriani series was released. Over time, it has morphed into less of a legal thriller series into more of an action series with a legal thriller bent to it. But, the first one is a good old-fashioned murder mystery and courtroom drama - and a surprisingly good one for a debut effort.

In Compelling Evidence we are introduced to Paul Madriani, a struggling solo practice attorney who has recently left a big league law firm because he was having an affair with a senior partner's wife. In the office next door is a new friend, Harry Hinds (his law partner in later books). When that same senior partner is found dead, Martini is hired to defend the widow in a wild and wooly murder trial in which everyone seems to have a motive, including Madriani.

This is truly a great legal thriller. It may very well be the best in a very solid series. It has aged very well and is a must-read for fans of the series.

I rate this novel 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Compelling Evidence (Paul Madriani Novels Book 1)

Reviewed on September 3, 2011.

The Massacre at Fall Creek by Jessamyn West

A solid bit of historical fiction

Published in 1975.

For this Hoosier reviewer, The Massacre at Fall Creek is most interesting since the places involved are no more than a 45 minute drive from my house.

Jessamyn West does a great job of getting the "feel" of an 1824 frontier community - how small it was, how truly far away it was from "civilization" and how that isolation created a unique culture.

The storyline is based on a real incident in which several white men from a community to the north of Pendleton, Indiana killed two families of Indians, including their children and stole their furs. Records from those days are "iffy" at best so West has to fill in a lot of blanks as she goes along. In fact, she even uses fake names for the white men involved, although it may be that in the 33 years since her book was written additional research has revealed the names of the men.

Jessamyn West 
(1902-84)

Of course, the Indians were outraged at this treaty violation and the U.S. government decided that there was going to be a real trial and it paid for a team of prosecution and defense lawyers to conduct a real trial. A jail was built (ironically, Pendleton is the site of one of Indiana's prison facilities nowadays as well) and a trial was held for four of the five white men. The fifth white man was never captured by white authorities.

The book focuses on the love life of one of the young ladies of the settlement (her love interests intertwine in all aspects of the case), the trial and the aftermath. At times this book reads more like a romance novel, at other times like a legal thriller but it is a solid, enjoyable read about a sad, tragic moment on the Hoosier frontier.

I rate this novel 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Massacre at Fall Creek by Jessamyn West. 

Reviewed on June 27, 2008.

A Cure for Night: A Novel by Justin Peacock

A Very Solid First Novel

Published in 2009.

The last two novels I read before this one were from solid "name brand" authors. And...they were disappointing schlock. Justin Peacock is a new author and perhaps because he is new, he has put some care into his work and created a strong book that I can easily recommend.

The title A Cure for Night comes from this little exchange between two defense attorneys:

The author

"That's what the criminal law is: it's how the day tries to correct the night's mistakes. Most of my cases, people have done something they never would've dreamed of doing in broad daylight."
"What does that make us?" I said. "The night's janitors?"
"We're absolutely that," Myra said, sipping her cosmo. "What else do we do but clean up after it? That's why we'll never run out of work. Not unless someone invents a cure for night."

This gritty, dark book features a New York City Public Defense Attorney, Joel Deveraux, that has his own troubled past (with drugs) that has caused him to fall from the fast track in a big-time, big money law firm. Joel is working himself up through the system and he is tapped to be second-chair on a murder case that involves an inner-city drug dealer, a Jewish college student and a lot more.

On a real positive, Justin Peacock has gone out of his way to include correct-sounding dialects - the people from the projects sound authentic to my ear. Although I am not "in the life", I have taught in urban schools for  more than 10 years and Peacock's a lot more accurate than most of those that even bother to try to catch the dialect.

Fans of Robert K. Tanenbaum (Reckless Endangerment) will like this one.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A Cure for Night.

Reviewed on September 20, 2008.

Kari's Saga: A Novel of Viking Iceland by Robert Jansson

A Viking book that's less of a "bash 'em, slash 'em" book and more of a legal thriller

Published in 2008 by BookSurge Publishing.

So, you pick up a book about Icelandic Vikings and what do you expect? Well, if you're like me you expected a lot of men with long hair brandishing swords and axes along with lots of blood and longboats, much like the Saxon Chronicle books of Bernard Cornwell.

A Viking Longhouse

Kari's Saga starts out with just that - a failed attempt to burn a rival's longhouse. But, there's a twist. Iceland is trying to limit the the amount of violence that plague the island (revenge killings and so on). The Icelandic Vikings are actively trying to be more creative in applying Viking laws and the legal system to limit this violence. Notice I said limit, not end it - these are, after all, Vikings.

Throw in the threat of political change (invasion from Viking kings back in Denmark - Iceland had no king, just a loose collection of weak semi-feudal lords) and religious change (Christianity was supplanting the Viking gods and the desire to make Iceland Christian was one of excuses used to threaten the invasion from Denmark) and you have an interesting story line with lots of twists and turns.

The author, Robert Jansson, does a great job of explaining the political, religious and legal issues involved. His battle scenes, while few, are well done. He adds in greed, lust and love to make this a worthy read. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon at this location:  Kari's Saga: A Novel of Viking Iceland.

Reviewed on November 29, 2008.

No Lesser Plea by Robert K. Tanenbaum

A legal thriller that gets lost in its own antics

Originally published in 1987.

Robert K. Tanenbaum has created a well-regarded series of legal thrillers set in New York City and featuring D.A. Roger 'Butch' Karp. I have read others in this series. No Lesser Plea is the first and is set from 1970-1973.

The main legal focus of the book and the source of the title is the case of Mandeville Louis, a user of men and women who masterminds a murderous liquor store heist and causes his getaway driver to die from an overdose. Louis has a plan to avoid punishment by faking to be mentally ill and eventually plea bargain his way to freedom based on time served in a mental institution rather than a harsher penal institution (shades of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

Butch Karp sniffs out the true legal motives of Louis and writes in magic marker on the case file 'No Lesser Plea' just in case it comes up for review again and he is not informed.

The legal story is quite good but Tannenbaum's story bogs down in the antics of the District Attorney's office (it reminds me of the movie M*A*S*H but without the excuse of an insane war to push the characters to the edge of sanity). Butch's friend Guma is insufferable (he drags pistols out of the evidence room to play cops and robbers and then promptly loses some of them, he sets of a C-4 charge in a reflection pool during an office garden party, has sex on his office desk and so on) and the whole office politics scene is too hurried. If Tannenbaum had paced himself a bit these antics would have been more tolerable. As they are presented, they distract from the legal thriller at hand.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: No Lesser Plea.

Reviewed on March 27, 2006.

Beyond Suspicion (Jack Swyteck #2) by James Grippando

Published in 2002.

Beyond Suspicion is a quick-moving book and is a sequel to Grippando's first published novel 'The Pardon'. I read 'The Pardon' many years ago, but reading the first book is not a necessary requirement - Grippando sets the stage very well in this book so it can be a 'stand alone' novel.

I shot through this book very quickly - the plot drags you in pretty well and Grippando's writing style keeps the book moving along at a quick pace. The main character is fairly average and his world is suddenly turned upside down by one case and its connections to the underworld. Murder, mayhem and one family crisis after another keep it interesting. Grippando fills this novel with a multitude on interesting characters, any one of which would be strong enough to be the main character in a book.

A good solid read - a great summertime novel.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Beyond Suspicion.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on July 25, 2005.

The Jury by Steve Martini

A great legal thriller

Published in 2001.

The oddly titled The Jury (it's not about the jury at all - they are barely mentioned) is a sharp, tight legal thriller that hums right along until the neat little twist at the end.

Paul Madriani and his law partner Harry Hinds have are defending a murder suspect, a genetic researcher named David Crone. The book joins the trial already in progress. Madriani and Hinds have one big problem, though. The unflappable Crone keeps so many secrets - trade secrets, research secrets and vital information that he just didn't think was important enough to mention to his attorneys that they don't really know where they stand in any of this.

Throw in a family friend with a genetic disorder that may be cured by Crone's research, you get a solid mixture of urgency, ambiguity and frustration that kept me glued until the end.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book is found on Amazon.com here: The Jury by Steve Martini.

Reviewed on February 8, 2011.

The Associate by Phillip Margolin

Good, fast-paced roller coaster ride

Originally published in 2002.

If the first two opening scenes don't grab you than you had better check your pulse and see if you're still alive!

Phillip Margolin

Others have reviewed The Associate and correctly stated that it is not a pure legal thriller. True enough. There are legal parts to this story, but the case is not resolved through fancy legal footwork. Rather, the thriller becomes a mystery too and we race along with our heroes to see if they can save everyone and expose the villains.

Is it great literature? Hardly. But, it's a lot of fun and I tore through it like a starving man at a buffet.
 
I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Associate by Phillip Margolin.
 
Reviewed on February 1, 2005

Lawless (Nikki Hill #4) by Christopher Darden and Dick Lochte

I admit it, I saw the name on the cover and picked it up...

Originally published in 2004.

...and after the first 50 pages I thought to myself, "Uh-oh. He's done it again and screwed up for all of the world to see." In case you were under a rock during the O.J. Simpson trial - Darden was the male prosecutor. And, it first it did seem that Lawless was floundering and going to be another bust for Darden.

Christopher Darden
during the
infamous O.J. trial.

However, what I mistook for floundering was actually the plot being carefully laid out - including intricate subplots, betrayals (lots of betrayals) and bizarre dead ends that mislead the reader to the very last page. When you finally get a handle on what the bad guys are up to you then wonder which guys are the bad guys, which are the good guys and who is just out for themselves. When this book finally played out, it was well worth the initial confusion.

I'll be looking for more of their books.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: LAWLESS by Christopher Darden and Dick Lochte.

Reviewed on September 29, 2004.

Final Argument by Clifford Irving

What Would You Do?

Originally published in 1994.

Imagine you're a defense lawyer but you used to be a prosecutor. Now, imagine you find out a career criminal that you put on Death Row is really innocent of the crime because you discover that the witness statements you used were all lies. Now, imagine that he's going to die in a month. What do you do?

Throw in a heaping handful of racial politics, Florida's fascination with the electric chair and the main characters fractured family life and you've got Clifford Irving's Final Argument. It started out very slow but I kept going and it turned out to be one of the better legal thriller books I've read for a while.

I give this book a "4 stars" - I'm dropping the score because of the slow start.

This book can be found in multiple formats on Amazon.com here: Final Argument by Clifford Irving. 

Reviewed in 2004.

The Lincoln Lawyer (Mickey Haller #1) by Michael Connelly

A Review of the Audiobook

Published in 2005 by Hachette Audio
Duration: 11 hours, 37 minutes
Read by Adam Grupper
Unabridged

In The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly leaves Harry Bosch behind for a while to introduce a new character - defense attorney Mickey Haller. Haller plays all of the angles all of the time. He knows all of the ins and outs of the L.A. court system and knows all of the ways to create revenue for his practice - he needs every penny because he has two ex-wives and a child to support. Haller saves money by using his car, a roomy Lincoln, as his office. His driver is a client who is working off what he owes to Haller.

Haller is asked to defend a very rich Beverly Hills playboy in an attempted rape/murder case and soon Haller's world starts to become even more complicated. Ethical considerations, murder, love of family and the desire for justice for a man unfairly imprisoned all get tangled together.

Michael Connelly

The audiobook is wonderfully read by veteran narrator Adam Grupper. He does a fantastic job of giving each character a distinctive voice and the conversations flow as easily as if they were read by a team of actors.

The book is a solid legal thriller - I stayed interested until the end and looked forwards to hearing more during my morning and evening commutes.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on May 18, 2010.