D.A. Diaries

By Kenneth Eichner

This story begins with the shooting of a popular and legendary Washington, D.C., teacher. The high-profile trial is assigned to Clay, who is equally dedicated to chasing women as bringing murderers to justice. As Clay confronts his new assignment, he reconnects with the woman of his dreams and struggles unsuccessfully to keep his demons at bay.

The euphoria of Clay’s relationship is overwhelmed by a progression of devastating events as witnesses go silent and a corrupt clan of police officers seeks to protect the prime suspect. Clay’s indiscretion with a witness at trial threatens both his personal life and his career, sending the superstar of the homicide unit into an abyss.

Clay is a passionate individual who is revealed through his observations and conversations with his cynical pals at the D.A.’s Office, crooked cops, drug-addled witnesses, and his burned-out psychiatrist. He sees the legal system, his dysfunctional family, and our nation’s Capitol with a unique wit that is at once comedic, troubling, and honest.

The author has worked as a prosecutor and defense attorney for the past 30 years. Of course, D.A. Diaries is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Although some real D.C. and Prince George’s County institutions are mentioned, all are used fictitiously.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Eichner
• Release date: Aug 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9780615495897

Kenneth Eichner

Kenneth F. Eichner, author of D.A. Diaries and principle of The Eichner Law Firm, has spent most of his adult life in the courtroom. As a prosecutor and defense attorney he has tried over 135 jury trials, including a number of high-profile cases, one of which drew the attention of President Clinton. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., in 1984. After working in the D.C. Court of Appeals and clerking for the Chief Judge of Prince George’s County, Maryland, Mr. Eichner went to work as a deputy district attorney for six years in Prince George’s County, where he was awarded the Governor’s Citation for Outstanding Achievement as a prosecutor.For the past 16 years, he has worked on the other side of the aisle as a defense attorney in Colorado winning nearly all of his cases. He has lectured in trial advocacy at Denver University and Georgetown University and has been published in The Colorado Lawyer, The Washington Post and The Huffington Post. His cases have been covered by The Washington Post, The Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Post, and 60 Minutes. He is a member of the Colorado, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., bars. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Janjuree, and daughter, Kinaree.

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Reviews for D.A. Diaries

[nbmars · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of Kenneth Eichner’s D. A. Diaries grabs the reader with its snappy dialog, and a lively pace is maintained throughout the book. This is a pretty engaging read, especially coming from a first-time author.One quality that stands out through the entire novel is its authenticity with respect to legal matters. The writer is a former prosecutor and defense attorney, and he really knows his way around a courthouse. He captures the frenetic pace - punctuated by periods of boredom - of pretrial procedure. In particular, his court clerks, bailiffs, and other support staff are well-drawn. His judges remind me of the ones I encountered in my short stint as a litigator in Chicago. And based on what I heard during my police car ride-alongs in Washington, D.C. with my sister-in-law (a lieutenant in the D.C. Police Force), Eichner's ear for the speech patterns of the criminal class and local cops rings true. The protagonist, Clay Franklin, is a witty and competent lawyer in Washington, D.C. The other male characters are clever and often hilarious. The female characters, however, are just too perfect. Clay's female partner is tall, beautiful (with “cerulean eyes”), and a law review editor from a top school. The love of his life is a former law student turned artist, also incredibly beautiful. The other women Clay either encounters, seduces, or is seduced by, are also stunning. The protagonist seems to have no trouble gaining the affection of any of the beautiful women he pursues.The crime portion of the plot revolves around the murder trial of a beloved teacher. The prime suspect is one of the teacher's students, who happens to be the son of a disreputable policeman. The resolution is not particularly surprising. The trite romantic sub-plot is less satisfying than the rest. It sounds a bit too much like it came out of someone’s fantasies rather than real life. There is not much nuance in it, and the outcome is implausible, given the characterizations preceding it. Evaluation: The legal portion of the book is very well-done. The book’s credible descriptions of legal procedure and practice are reminiscent of Scott Turow, but the mood is lighter and funnier.The romantic parts could have used a more skeptical editor, and some of the prose could have used an editor more grammatically astute. In no fewer than three instances, compound objects of prepositions were left in the nominative case. (As in: “No one in the office had been able to tag him for a homicide before the file made its way to Scott and I.”) Ouch! That’s just embarrassing.Overall, the plot is not exceptionally well-crafted, but the author’s style is entertaining, and he shows promise as a writer of crime fiction if he loses the fantasy obsessions and studies some grammar books. (JAB)