Against the law

Format:

Book

Title:

Against the law

Author:

Brandon, Jay author

ISBN:

9780727887702

9781847518859

Edition:

First world edition.

Publication:

London : Severn House, 2018.

Physical Description:

275 pages ; 23 cm

Series title(s):

Edward Hall series.

Summary:

Fresh out of prison, former lawyer Edward Hall thinks his days in the courtroom are behind him. Until his sister, Dr Amy Hall, is arrested for murder. She's accused of shooting the ex-husband she supposedly reconciled with and is convinced that her ex-convict brother is the only one able to save her. To make matters worse, the media won't ignore Amy's high profile case; an example needs to be made of a doctor murdering another doctor. So Edward promises to do everything he can to protect his sister, because she is innocent, isn't she?

Subject(s):

Murder -- Fiction.

Ex-convicts -- Fiction.

Trials -- Fiction.

Legal stories.

Houston (Tex.) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Houston (Tex.) -- Fiction.

Texas -- Houston.

Genre:

Legal stories.

Legal fiction (Literature)

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Silver Falls Library	FIC BRANDON	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Fresh out of prison, former lawyer Edward Hall thinks his days in the courtroom are behind him. Until his sister, Dr Amy Hall, is arrested for murder...

She's been accused of shooting the ex-husband she supposedly reconciled with and is convinced that her ex-convict brother is the only one able to save her. To make matters worse, the media won't ignore Amy's high-profile case; an example needs to be made of a doctor murdering another doctor. So Edward promises to do everything he can to protect his sister, because she is innocent, isn't she?

Edward finds himself back in the courtroom facing Cynthia, the judge responsible for his arrest and imprisonment all those years ago. With personal grudges heavy in the air, can Edward spare his sister from a brutal sentencing that could cost her her life?

Author Notes

Jay Brandon is an attorney and author. He was born in Texas in 1953. Brandon received a master's degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Brandon has served with the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Baxter County District Attorney's Office, and the San Antonio Court of Appeals during his legal career. He practices law in San Antonio, Texas.

Brandon's novel, Loose Among the Lambs, was a main selection of the Literary Guild. Another novel, Fade the Heat, was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel of the Year. Booklist magazine gave his novel, Deadbolt, an Editor's Choice award. An article he wrote about the judicial races in San Antonio won a Gavel Award from the State Bar Association in 1994.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Implausibilities undermine this series kickoff from Edgar-finalist Brandon (Running with the Dead). During a trial, Edward Hall, a well-known Houston defense attorney, and Cynthia Miles, the prosecutor he's trying a drug case against, help themselves to the cocaine in evidence before engaging in intercourse in the judge's chambers. When these shenanigans become known, Edward covers for Cynthia and takes the rap for the evidence tampering. After two years in prison, the disbarred lawyer finds steady work as a salesman, until he gets a desperate call from his physician sister, Amy, who has been arrested for murdering her estranged husband. The prosecution is convinced of Amy's guilt-she was found, bloodstained, next to the corpse-but despite his disbarment, Edward agrees to defend her, only to find that Cynthia, now a judge, will preside over the high-profile murder trial. No one in authority realizes that Edward no longer has a license to practice law as he seeks to prove his sister's innocence. Brandon, a Texas criminal lawyer, knows how to ratchet up tension in the courtroom, but multiple contrivances don't bode well for future entries. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

A fine, tense legal thriller with an offbeat plot. Edward Hall, Houston prosecuting attorney, spends time in jail for the damnedest reason: he's caught breaking into a druggie's cocaine stash. Upon his release, his sister, Amy, is arrested for murdering her estranged husband; too bad for her, the man made a video days before his death, saying, If I am found dead, it will be my wife who murdered me. Pretty ironclad. Edward, though he has no legal cred any more, undertakes Amy's defense. Interestingly, author Brandon, a practicing attorney, has the urge to tell us trade secrets, and these sections are as intriguing as the narrative. We learn that cops have a way of manipulating eyewitness accounts to jibe with their version. Defense attorneys like to put their second-best witness on first and their best witness on last. Juries secretly believe the person in the dock is guilty; that's why not guilty verdicts are in the minority. And those Perry Mason dramas that have the lawyer freeing the innocent by solving the crime himself? They're all bullshit, Edward tells Amy. Well, not always, as we learn.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2018 Booklist