A Criminal Defense: A Harlan Donnally Novel
By Steven Gore
4/5
()
About this ebook
Betrayal wounds.Revenge destroys.
Over three decades, Hamlin's practice devolved into just another racket: intimidating witnesses, suborning perjury, destroying evidence, laundering money. But is he the victim of murder—or of a dangerous sexual encounter gone wrong? And when law enforcement believes justice has already been done, who can be trusted to find out?
Once again in the city where his career came to a shattering end, former detective Harlan Donnally resolved it wouldn't be him. He had no desire to immerse himself in the deceit that was Hamlin's career . . . nor entangle himself in the corrupted loyalties that turned the dead lawyer's associates into both co-conspirators and suspects . . . nor make himself the proxy for the hatreds and betrayals Hamlin left behind.
But the presiding judge demanded otherwise—and that might cost Donnally his life.
Steven Gore
Steven Gore is a former private investigator turned “masterful” writer (Publishers Weekly), who combines “a command of storytelling” with “insider knowledge” (Library Journal). With a unique voice honed on the street and in the Harlan Donnally and Graham Gage novels, Gore’s stories are grounded in his decades spent investigating murder; fraud; organized crime; corruption; and drug, sex, and arms trafficking throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He has been featured on 60 Minutes and honored for investigative excellence. Gore lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Titles in the series (3)
Act of Deceit: A Harlan Donnally Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Criminal Defense: A Harlan Donnally Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Is the Hunter: A Harlan Donnally Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for A Criminal Defense
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the second volume of a trilogy about a retired San Francisco cop, Harlan Donnally. I haven't yet read the first, Act of Deceit, but that didn't matter as this works well as a stand-alone. Having said that, I'll be reading the first book very soon because I want to know more about Donnally.The book begins with Donnally and his friend, SF cop Ramon Navarro, in the shadows of the Golden Gate Bridge where they can see a body hanging. The victim's pants are down around his ankles and plainly visible is what for the sake of delicacy I will call priapism. Apparently the object was to humiliate him, something he richly deserved as a sleezy lawyer who never let the law or any sense of ethics stop him from making money. His name was Mark Hamlin. He had left word with his assistant and a note in his desk that if something happened to him, he wanted Donnally to investigate, no one else.Donnally had been shot in the hip in the line of duty several years earlier. He had retired, left the city, settled in a small town in northern California, and opened a small restaurant there. Still he stays in the city a few times each month because his girlfriend, Janie, a hospital psychiatrist, lives in his home there. He is there visiting her and doing little repair jobs around the house when he gets the call about Hamlin's wishes.The D.A., Navarro, Donnally, and a judge they trust decide to appoint straight arrow Donnally a "special master" to discover who murdered Hamlin, but not get into attorney-client privilege issues or complications. Ha! Just try to do that and still solve the crime. I would call this one a thinking person's kind of legal thriller and it's a winner. Author Steven Gore gets into not only what happened but particularly why and looks deep into the characters' backgrounds for answers to who they are at the time of this murder. There is some danger and some shooting, but mainly it's the story of Donnally and the other major characters involved. And it's the story of corruption, a widespread evil that hurts mainly legal clients but also investigators and other lawyers.Highly recommendedE-book released July 30, 2013Source: HarperCollins, Publishers