Capitol Murder: A Novel

By William Bernhardt

William Bernhardt’s bestselling novels featuring Oklahoma defense attorney Ben Kincaid capture the bare-knuckles reality of high-stakes criminal defense, as lofty ideals of justice clash with power, corruption, and wealth. In Capitol Murder, Bernhardt’s hard-charging hero takes on his most shocking, headline-making case yet.

Kincaid’s legal success has earned him a dubious reward: a journey through the looking glass into the Beltway. Here, in the heart of the nation’s capital, a powerful U.S. senator has been caught first in a sordid sex scandal, then in a case of murder.

Senate aide Veronica Cooper was found in a secret Senate office beneath the Capitol building, on Senator Todd Glancy’s favorite couch, blood pouring from the knife wound in her throat. The young woman’s death comes on the heels of the release of a sordid videotape depicting her and Senator Glancy in compromising positions.

With the senator’s reputation in tatters, the evidence against him–as a sexual predator and possibly a killer–mounts. By the time a nationally televised murder trial begins, Kincaid and his team know they’re facing the challenge of a lifetime. According to public opinion, and even in Kincaid’s most private thoughts, Glancy is one more politician who cannot admit his own culpability.

But while a dramatic trial unfolds in the courtroom–loaded with pitfalls, traps, and an astounding betrayal–another trial is taking place on the mean streets of D.C., as Kincaid’s investigator pursues a young woman who was a friend of Veronica Cooper’s, plunging Kincaid into a bizarre world of Goths, sadomasochists, and a community of self-proclaimed vampires. Somewhere in this violent underworld lies the secret behind Veronica Cooper’s demise . . . and the crux of Senator Glancy’s innocence or guilt.

In a case that pits Kincaid and his freewheeling partner Christina McCall against the brutal machinery of Washington politics, the answers they seek are hidden in a murderous maze of lies and hidden motives. And in William Bernhardt’s best novel yet, getting to the truth is an unparalleled experience in pure, satisfying suspense.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 31, 2006
• ISBN: 9780345490834

William Bernhardt

William Bernhardt (b. 1960), a former attorney, is a bestselling thriller author. Born in Oklahoma, he began writing as a child, submitting a poem about the Oklahoma Land Run to Highlights—and receiving his first rejection letter—when he was eleven years old. Twenty years later, he had his first success, with the publication of Primary Justice (1991), the first novel in the long-running Ben Kincaid series. The success of Primary Justice marked Bernhardt as a promising young talent, and he followed the book with seventeen more mysteries starring the idealistic defense attorney, including Murder One (2001) and Hate Crime (2004). Bernhardt’s other novels include Double Jeopardy (1995) and The Midnight Before Christmas (1998), a holiday-themed thriller. In 1999, Bernhardt founded Bernhardt Books (formerly HAWK Publishing Group) as a way to help boost the careers of struggling young writers. In addition to writing and publishing, Bernhardt teaches writing workshops around the country. He currently lives with his family in Oklahoma. 

Reviews for Capitol Murder

[carl_alves_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I can never get fully into these Ben Kincaid novels. In general, they’re entertaining and a fun read but they have a big obstacle to overcome—the main protagonist is a weak character who isn’t particularly credible. The author painstakingly goes out of his way to paint him as this naïve, self-effacing, aw shucks kind of character. But all of those things are incongruous with being a successful lawyer, and he simply doesn’t come off as a real character. The senator that he was defending, on the other hand, did come off as real. He was a manipulative, power hungry, ego maniacal politician—all very believable qualities when comparing him to actual senators and politicians.Although this was an entertaining read, the whole vampire aspect was over the top. I had no problem believing that these types of cults exist. As a vampire author, my own research has shown this to be true. But the Sire comes off as this omnipotent force of evil, and it wasn’t believable. I also felt the novel should have ended with the end of the trial. The entire part at the end, although not unexpected since Barnhardt is apt to do this sort of thing, was overkill and anticlimactic. His editor should have convinced him to bring out the hatchet and chop the whole thing out. In summary, this was a readable novel but not a great one.Carl Alves – author of Blood Street