Presumption of Guilt

From Booklist
Add former banker Kelly to the growing list of writers who choose the courtroom--and the complex of law firm, government, and corporate offices that stands behind the courtroom--as stomping ground. At the heart of Kelly's debut novel stands Laura Chastain, senior associate at Atlanta's prestigious Prendergrast and Crawley, who is surprised to discover she enjoys (and is good at) criminal defense work--far from a specialty of the "white shoes" firm! After she successfully defends the son of a corporate client against highly publicized rape charges, an Atlanta policeman strolls into her office, asking for help with charges that he killed a suspected child molester in custody at a police station. Despite management's misgivings, Laura's supervisor, poetry-spouting Tom Bailey, supports her desire to take the tabloid-ready, racially divisive brutality case. Still, there's more to Laura's new case than either brutality or frame-up; most of the institutions and people on whom Laura depends are involved in gun sales, murder, blackmail, or cover-ups. Vivid and involving. Mary Carroll


Genre: Mystery