Welcome to Los Angeles, 1993. Where murder is entertainment, and everyone wants a front-row seat.
Charlie Trust thought he'd found paradise on California's Carbon Beach. Then one morning he watched sheriffs deputies swarm the yellow house just down the sand, and he saw the two bodies being carried away in black bags.
Arnie Duncan and his wife had been shot to death in their home. No forced entry. Nothing stolen. Just execution-style murders that send shockwaves through Malibu's golden days.
The cops think they know who did it: Jerry Duncan, the couple's 23-year-old son. He found the bodies. He called 911. He stands to inherit millions. Gotta be him, right? Case closed.
The media convicts Jerry even before he’s arrested. The city is already obsessed with Lyle and Eric Menendez, the brothers who are accused of shotgunning their parents to death because they were impatient about getting their inheritance. This is just the same thing all over again, isn’t it? Of course it is. The Menendez trial is about to begin, and the similarities are too perfect to ignore.
In Los Angeles in 1993, perception is reality. The truth is whatever the cameras say it is. And right now, every camera in LA is pointed at Jerry Duncan.
But when Jerry Duncan sits on Charlie's deck just down the beach from where his parents died, he’s terrified and begging for help, and Charlie sees something the media doesn't. A scared kid who might actually be innocent.
Charlie’s law partner is Sandy Bouchier, once one of the greatest criminal defense attorneys in America but getting on in years now. He knows exactly what's coming if Charlie signs on to defend Jerry Duncan. He knows all about the cameras, the speculation, the trial by television. He's lived through it before. "Are you ready for that?" he asks Charlie.
Charlie isn't. But ready or not, the storm is already here, and everyone wants Charlie to play his part. He’s cast as the crusading young attorney defending the indefensible, the fresh face for the cameras, the voice of the next generation. CNN is calling, the LA Times is waiting outside, and Hollywood producers are watching.
But here’s the thing. Charlie didn't become a lawyer to be famous. He became a lawyer to protect people when the system takes aim at them. The evidence against Jerry doesn't seem to him to add up, and the timeline makes no sense. The deeper Charlie digs, the more he realizes this isn't about one family's tragedy. It's about something much bigger, much darker, and much closer to home than anyone imagined.
Now Charlie must navigate a media firestorm, outsmart prosecutors who care more about winning than truth, and find a killer who's counting on everyone looking in the wrong direction.
Because in Los Angeles the biggest crime isn't murder. The biggest crime is getting caught.
From the author of HABEAS CORPUS and CONTEMPT OF COURT comes the third riveting installment in the Charlie Trust series. A razor-sharp legal thriller that captures the time when television turned justice into entertainment. And staying out of the spotlight might be the most dangerous choice of all.
For fans of Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series and John Grisham's legal thrillers comes a fresh voice in courtroom drama, set against the sun-soaked darkness of 1990s Los Angeles.
Genre: Mystery
Charlie Trust thought he'd found paradise on California's Carbon Beach. Then one morning he watched sheriffs deputies swarm the yellow house just down the sand, and he saw the two bodies being carried away in black bags.
Arnie Duncan and his wife had been shot to death in their home. No forced entry. Nothing stolen. Just execution-style murders that send shockwaves through Malibu's golden days.
The cops think they know who did it: Jerry Duncan, the couple's 23-year-old son. He found the bodies. He called 911. He stands to inherit millions. Gotta be him, right? Case closed.
The media convicts Jerry even before he’s arrested. The city is already obsessed with Lyle and Eric Menendez, the brothers who are accused of shotgunning their parents to death because they were impatient about getting their inheritance. This is just the same thing all over again, isn’t it? Of course it is. The Menendez trial is about to begin, and the similarities are too perfect to ignore.
In Los Angeles in 1993, perception is reality. The truth is whatever the cameras say it is. And right now, every camera in LA is pointed at Jerry Duncan.
But when Jerry Duncan sits on Charlie's deck just down the beach from where his parents died, he’s terrified and begging for help, and Charlie sees something the media doesn't. A scared kid who might actually be innocent.
Charlie’s law partner is Sandy Bouchier, once one of the greatest criminal defense attorneys in America but getting on in years now. He knows exactly what's coming if Charlie signs on to defend Jerry Duncan. He knows all about the cameras, the speculation, the trial by television. He's lived through it before. "Are you ready for that?" he asks Charlie.
Charlie isn't. But ready or not, the storm is already here, and everyone wants Charlie to play his part. He’s cast as the crusading young attorney defending the indefensible, the fresh face for the cameras, the voice of the next generation. CNN is calling, the LA Times is waiting outside, and Hollywood producers are watching.
But here’s the thing. Charlie didn't become a lawyer to be famous. He became a lawyer to protect people when the system takes aim at them. The evidence against Jerry doesn't seem to him to add up, and the timeline makes no sense. The deeper Charlie digs, the more he realizes this isn't about one family's tragedy. It's about something much bigger, much darker, and much closer to home than anyone imagined.
Now Charlie must navigate a media firestorm, outsmart prosecutors who care more about winning than truth, and find a killer who's counting on everyone looking in the wrong direction.
Because in Los Angeles the biggest crime isn't murder. The biggest crime is getting caught.
From the author of HABEAS CORPUS and CONTEMPT OF COURT comes the third riveting installment in the Charlie Trust series. A razor-sharp legal thriller that captures the time when television turned justice into entertainment. And staying out of the spotlight might be the most dangerous choice of all.
For fans of Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series and John Grisham's legal thrillers comes a fresh voice in courtroom drama, set against the sun-soaked darkness of 1990s Los Angeles.
Genre: Mystery