Sheldon Siegel. Final Verdict (2003) 391 pp.
About a decade ago, lawyers Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez triumphantly represented bum Leon Walker in a murder trial. When Leon returns, needing Mike and Rosie’s help again as he is charged with the stabbing killing of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tower Grayson, the duo knows they must reject this case—and all murder cases—as Rosie recovers from breast cancer. Besides obtaining an acquittal in the first case, the marriage between the two lawyers ended. Perhaps it is the code of an ex-priest, but Mike, against his better judgment that reminds him of the mental and physical toll these representations take, accepts the job. The prosecution uses every weapon in their arsenal, including abuse of power and intimidation of witnesses to win. Encouraged by their client’s obsession to prove his innocence before he dies from a liver ailment, Mike and Rosie go all out in their defense.

H.K.